Echoes From the Past
by Gavedin
Summary: The Elemental Nations are gone. Ninja are gone. All he knew is gone. But that doesn't mean he'll fade away like the rest of his culture. No, he will live on and prove that he's more than just a mere 'shinobi'.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Soul Eater…that's it.

Chapter 1:

It was a cool yet breezy night as the wind flowed through the Gothic buildings that were a common sight within Death City, Nevada. The calm that went hand in hand with the darkness of night was broken by a loud wheezing sound that issued forth from above the rooftops. Strangely enough, the noisy 'vehicle' was actually a black skateboard with a person standing atop it. Its hovering ability was thanks to the white smoke billowing out of its down-turned wheels. In the person's hands was a large cloth draped over an item, the fingers constantly readjusting themselves as he did his best to keep it within his grasp.

As the male figure bobbed over yet another tiled roof, his yellow eyes were focused solely on the rather large and opulent (though downright excessive) building situated at the far end of the city, right on its outskirts. It was no ordinary building, oh no. It was known all over the world as Shibusen, or the DWMA. The Death Weapon Meister Academy was a school for people with specialized abilities. In this world, both men and women were sometimes born with the power to control their very soul and its unique wavelength.

The soul manifested to either allow the person to change into an actual weapon or someone who could safely wield the human weapon without any sort of soul backlash. The academy allowed those with such power to enroll and learn more about the strength of their souls and find a partner whose wavelength safely enmeshed with their own without any repercussions. Meisters, or technicians, and demon weapons. It was these people that patrolled the world like a makeshift police force on the lookout for souls that had fallen from grace.

Whereas normal human souls were light blue in color when viewed, there were actually other variations. For someone that lost their morals and did what was forbidden, their souls were dyed crimson with the innocent blood they had spilled. A scattered, rocky outcropping would form as a barrier to try and shield their sins from sight but it was all for naught. For someone who had crossed the taboo and consumed a human soul began an arduous journey for power. They became what was known as a Kishin egg, beings that destroyed the innocent for their own selfish gain.

The weapon/meister combo was tasked with hunting down and destroying the Kishin eggs with their weapons consuming the tainted souls in the process. Such a move was to insure the eggs would be disposed of properly as well as moving the weapons further along their own evolutionary path. When ninety-nine corrupted souls were eaten and removed from the world, only one single soul remained to complete their metamorphosis.

A witch's soul, purple in color and the means to an end.

These people were powerful beings that held strange magical power within their souls, though such energies nearly always caused the person to grow to love destruction and anarchy as they grew. The witches were the natural enemies of Shibusen and its like, clashing at every opportunity just like the concepts of Harmony and Discord. Although not all witches were 'evil'…some were able to ignore the call of their destructive magic though there were few in number. Even less were the ones who possessed nondestructive magic and therefore had no need to sow destruction.

In the end, once a weapon ate and absorbed the one hundred different souls, their innate power increased exponentially and they would metamorphose into a Death Scythe. It was the label given to all weapons that finished this quest even if a scythe was not their primary form. There weren't many Death Scythes in the world as of yet due to the difficulty of the quest or having their captured souls confiscated as punishment. And to think, it was all due to the machinations of one simple school.

The boy once again readjusted his hands as he moved ever closer to the large building. '_I hope father is able to discern what this is._' he thought to himself, his eyes flickering towards the blackened cloth as he felt the object slip a little.

"_Kiiiiiiiiid! Can't we go any faster?_"

"Calm yourself, Patty. We're nearly there." the newly named Death the Kid retorted carefully, his eyes roving over to the custom pistol wrapped in his hand and pushed flush against the package. The male was dressed in a black suit with a white undershirt, with large white rectangles attached to the cloth on his shoulders and chest. His hair was short and black except for the three white bars that wrapped halfway around the left side of his head. Where his tie would normally reside, there was a metallic skull token which resembled the two rings that he wore on his middle fingers. A second pistol was clutched in his other hand, revealing why he was having so much trouble handling the object in the first place.

"_But I get so antsy staying in weapon form for so long! It's like we've been in it forever~!_"

Kid sighed but smiled as he landed upon the uppermost step of the academy grounds. As he leaned down and set the item on the cool concrete, the guns in his hands dispersed into twin pools of bright pink light that shot towards the ground and immediately coalesced into humanoid forms. As the energy faded away, two teenage girls stood in their place dressed in matching outfits. They were Patricia and Elizabeth Thompson, AKA Patty and Liz, the twin demon pistols and partners of technician Death the Kid.

Liz was the older sister of the two and wore a midriff-bearing, red sleeveless turtleneck that hugged her figure with a small white tie that rested against her chest. On top of her head rested an odd cowboy hat with a dark blue band and stitches near the rim. She had long, brownish hair that reached down to the middle of her back with two large bangs that framed her face and dark bluish eyes. A pair of jeans showed off her curves and bracelets jangled freely from each wrist. She also had on a pair of black heeled boots with most of it hidden underneath her pant legs.

Patty had on the same basic uniform but with a few stark differences. She had shorter, chin length blonde hair and light blue eyes with a pair of puffy shorts that ended high up on her thighs. Her boots revealed that they went all the way up to below her knee. Even though she was the younger sibling, her figure was fuller and she had a larger chest compared to her sister's which usually led to minor jealousy between them. Whereas Liz usually held a bemused and more mature expression, Patty always gave off childish exuberance and innocence. That didn't mean, however, that the two couldn't change their personalities on the fly. Liz was known to lose her cool on more than one occasion and Patty could get downright nasty if the situation called for it.

"Urg…I get so stiff staying in weapon form for such long periods of time." Liz moaned as she arched her back, presenting her modest bust to the sky. Kid reached down and retrieved the package, his fingers and palms reveling in the feel of the fabric now unimpeded by his metallic companions. "Kid, do you really have to hold it evenly in each hand?"

The boy felt his eye twitch at the crack, his obsessive compulsive disorder once again rearing its ugly head. "Everything must always be symmetrical." he shot back with some bite, causing the elder Thompson to slap her forehead while the younger burst into boisterous giggles. The three entered the building, each with their different emotions blaring as they moved through the bland white hallways until the group finally reached a large red and yellow door. It too had the same skull shape adorning its door frame with a sign slapped onto it labeling the place as 'The Death Room'. Catchy.

Once inside the trio moved down the hallway while passing underneath a bunch of guillotine-styled arches until finally emerging into a large circular room. It was painted blue like the sky but there were animated clouds coasted along its walls. Thin crosses dotted the landscape while in the very middle stood a raised, circular dais with one large mirror centered upon it. However, it was the figure standing in front of it that was the true attraction of such a strange room. Garbed in a great black cloak, the person had their back currently turned to the three teenagers.

Kid moved forward and cleared his throat, once again adjusting the object in his hands if only to keep it steady. "We're back…father. The mission was successful." Kid's father released an amused noise as he spun around, revealing the same cartoonish skull situated over his face like a mask. Many would likely brush off the odd man as nothing more than just a weird individual dressed in some of the oddest clothing they had ever seen, but that opinion would change drastically once his true importance was revealed. He was the lord of death, caretaker of the dead and collector of souls.

The shinigami.

In fact, _the_ shinigami. The one and only soul reaper and afterlife extraordinaire. And the man (being?) who had created Shibusen and helped father Kid. Due to past events, the reaper was forced to stay within the confines of Death City and send out his students and alumni to gather souls for him but it all worked out. Shinigami-sama looked on at his son and the boy's two partners and bounced in his spot, greeting the three animatedly with a wave of his large and blocky hands.

"Hey there, hi ho! So it all worked out, kiddo? That's great to hear!" The sisters each held out a hand and formed their ammunition clips in a shock of pink. Soul after soul shot out from the metal openings before they wrangled them all together inside of a fishing net they had pulled from who knows where. Satisfied by the speed of their execution, the young raven-haired boy nodded in thanks and looked at his dad.

"Yes, but there was an unforeseen consequence that I would like you to take a look at. You see, the culprit was a witch that brought the Pharaoh back to life using necromancy. However this killed her in the end. But that's not what's important. Her personal items were strewn across the floor and this caught my eye." With a flourish he withdrew the cloth allowing his parent to get an eyeful of the proffered object in his hands.

It was a scroll. A very large scroll about more than half the size of Kid himself. The middle was tan in color but red markings adorned the outer edges. Around the middle was a golden rope that assisted in keeping it tightly shut. A thick leather strap was attached to both ends, allowing for easy carrying once it was thrown over their shoulder. Patty quickly pulled the scroll out of his hands and draped it across her frame with the middle of it dangling just below her bottom. It was obvious that the original owner was a bit taller than the young Thompson. "Hey Kid? How come you didn't just move it around like this?"

"Because there was no feasible way for me to carry it that way in an even and symmetrical fashion!" Liz snorted into her hand as Patty nearly fell over from laughing. Shinigami-sama cocked his head to the side, unfazed by his son's antics but still a bit embarrassed at having to stand there and see them.

"I…see. But what's so special about it."

"There are kanji on its outer seal but I cannot read them. I may not be very fluent in Japanese but you'd at least think I could find some basic understanding in it. I don't believe it's any other Oriental language, either. But that's not the oddest part. Inside is a large array written all in ink and it's nothing like I've ever seen before."

"Interesting as this may be, I'm quite disappointed that you opened a potentially dangerous item that was in the possession of a witch without any backup or added protection. You may be fine currently but you _did_ bring back an item that may contain a delayed trap." Kid blanched as he realized his mistake, bowing to his father in apology.

"I'm very sorry, father. I wasn't thinking when I first checked it."

"It's quite alright, but I think we should wait on opening it again. You're still young and prone to make mistakes. Spirit should be back any minute now and it'll help to have to have an extra weapon around. I sent for him when I noticed you reenter the city with the package in your arms and curiosity got the better of me."

"Ah, yes. Good thinking, father."

A few minutes passed as Patty and Liz looked over the scroll, noticing it was rather worn and weathered from its abuse from the elements. It had obviously seen a lot of action if its faded colors were anything to go by. "Do you really think it's a witch's scroll? It seems more like a fashion accessory with its strap but it's so big and just plain ugly. No one would be caught dead walking around with that thing hanging off of them."

"I don't know, Sis! I like it!"

Footsteps echoed through the room as someone new entered, causing Patty and Liz to look up at the newcomer in wonder. "Oi…what's the deal Shinigami-sama? Any specific reason you called for me in the middle of the night?"

"Welcome, welcome~! Yes, indeed. Sorry to wake you, Spirit, but my son returned recently and brought back a possibly dangerous item. Who knows what could happen when opened so I figured having an extra weapon around could be beneficial!"

"Oh, yeah…sure, that's fine." Spirit Albarn yawned and scratched at his shoulder length red hair, his blue eyes zeroing in on the scroll currently hanging from Patty's petite frame. The resident Death Scythe of the DWMA and the one and only actual scythe weapon wore his trademark black suit and greenish-grey undershirt, complete with black tie shaped like a cross. Focusing the wavelength that permeated throughout his entire body, curved blades of pure onyx erupted from his back, shoulders, and forearms in a flash of white as he prepared for what was to possibly come. "Let's do it then. No offense, but I'd really like to get back to sleep."

"Kid, if you would do the honors?" The boy nodded and removed the item from his friend's shoulder and placed it in the middle of the area which also allowed Liz and Patty to revert to their pistol forms. Getting a nod from the two adults, he unraveled the rope and clicked open the latch, allowing him to slide it open and reveal the contents within before leaping back to a safe distance. Both gun barrels were aimed squarely at the yellowed parchment, just waiting for something to move.

Five minutes passed by and yet still nothing changed. Spirit inched forward with his right arm raised but there was still no movement. He even prodded the paper but still there was no transformation or attack. "I think it's safe, everyone. Kid, keep your guns on it just in case." The young death god nodded as his father moved forward to join his weapon partner. The shinigami leaned a bit closer, his hidden eyes scanning over the strange seal within before leaning back with a small gasp.

"My word…" All playfulness had left Shinigami-sama's voice and stature, alerting the others that a big discovery had just taken place. "You said a witch had this?"

"…yes, at least I think so. She was already eaten by the Pharaoh when I found it but it was next to what she used in her ritual. Why, is something the matter?"

"Oh no. Nothing is the matter. In fact, you may have found something thousands of years old. Before even the time of weapons and meisters. Before the world drastically changed and I as well…"

"…father?"

The masked being produced one of his hands from the inside of his cloak and placed it against the age old ink with almost a reverent appeal. "To think…I would ever see something that involved the use of chakra again. I thought it was all destroyed…" His pointer finger traced over the round seal and the characters within agonizingly slow. "I never thought I would read this language either…the old language that gave birth to the Japanese alphabet."

Spirit retracted his scythe blades and hooked his hands into his pants pockets, leaning over a bit to take a look at the supposedly ancient text. "Shinigami-sama, what's going on? What are you talking about? And what is that?"

"It's a storage scroll, used to carry items easily and carefully. With the proper written seal and application of chakra, a person could literally fit a house within the paper and only feel the weight of the scroll. In this case, however…it's a storage scroll designed to house a living human being."

"…what the hell's chakra?"

"An old energy formed from the combination of spiritual and physical energies. All living beings have it but only the old military and a few others were ever trained to harness it. You would call it life energy nowadays. Back then, I was even more fearsome than you could possibly imagine. I didn't wear a mask you see, as I was still somewhat…new to the world. More of a near mindless beast than the lovable goof you all know today. But as the years passed, my body and mind evolved and I became more civilized…I think maybe the Great Change had something to do with it."

This time it was Liz who asked the question, confusion etched into her features as she leaned against her sister. The two had returned to normal once the all clear was given. "Uh, what exactly is the Great Change? I've never heard of it before." She shivered when the reaper chuckled, low and somewhat emotionless as he placed his large palm against the seal.

"It was more or less the apocalypse but with a lot less death. Yes, I gathered many souls in the aftermath but none close to what you could imagine it would be like…it's been such a long time that I can only remember the bare basics…but I do remember it involved the moon. Do you really think that a large chuck of rock that revolved around the planet always had a face and creepy personality? No, it was once a round, faceless, normal orbital body until it was used as a catalyst for the Great Change. It somehow even affected the sun and gave it the appearance you see every day. The biggest change, however…were humans being born with the ability to harness a person's soul and wavelength. Souls became the new superweapon as chakra died away and voila! You have the history you all know today. In fact, I believe that chakra may have turned into magic. Words are now used instead of handsigns...hmmm, I'll have to look more into that theory."

Everyone present was in shock. They were learning things no one else knew and all because of a ratty old scroll that had survived for generations. Kid blinked and licked his suddenly dry lips, barely registering the thought of how they lost their moisture in the first place. "So…then what's in the scroll? A live human from before the world changed? I find it hard to believe that they're nothing more than a skeleton hidden away inside there."

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong. The humans back then were incredibly crafty and cunning. This seal was designed to house a person in a dreamless stasis until the day they were released and revived. I can assure you that whoever is inside is perfectly fine…well, unless they were sealed because of injuries and the scroll would keep them alive until treatment could be administered. But from what is written around the seal, it was merely used to house someone for an indefinite amount of time. I'm honestly surprised the seal was never torn or ripped over the years because that would have instantly broken its function and released its contents."

"So is there any way to open it then? None of us can use this chakra."

"No, but I still can...I hope. Give me a moment. It's been many millennia since I last honestly encountered it." Shinigami-sama exhaled and reached deep within himself, bypassing the empty spot where his own soul once resided and grabbed at the life energy that coursed through his immortal body. It had been so long but the chakra answered his call in an instant. With extra focus it surrounded his palm and permeated throughout the paper. Age old locks unlatched as a large poof of smoke erupted around his form. He allowed himself a smile, knowing for a fact that the smoke signified the action had indeed worked. A loud thud met his ears and he fanned away the obscurant, allowing the other curious eyes to see what had lived inside.

The girls gasped as did Kid. Spirit raised an eyebrow and cocked his head to the side but there was concern in his eyes. But the shinigami…he was the most unprepared at the outcome. It was a boy, sixteen or so years of age with spiky blonde hair that hung down into his closed eyes. His clothes were tattered and bloody, hanging loosely from his frame as he lay unmoving on his back. At some point the pants and jacket were orange though it was now a bit harder to tell. The uppermost part of the coat and sleeves were a dull grey, faded over the years from a once rich black color. His feet were covered by a pair of open-toed black sandals that had seen better days and what looked to be some old bits of musty tape were stuck to his right thigh. What really caught their attention was the three strange whisker marks that adorned both cheeks.

"Those marks…he was a jinchuriki…" Realizing he had spoken out loud, the soul reaper cleared his throat loudly to cover his error and checked for a pulse. Lower than normal but that was to be expected. He was rather thin, though, which raised a red flag in his eyes. Even in stasis a person lost nutrients but at an exaggeratedly and agonizingly slow rate. But being in there for so many years had still taken a toll on his body. He'd have Medusa nurse him back to health. After all, there was now a living relic sleeping in his Death Room. Like the coelacanth. His immune system would be diminished and he would need vaccinations. But then again…

Oh…wait…all jinchuriki had lost their demonic biju…that was the main cause for the Great Change. Was that also the reason he was put inside the scroll? It would explain how he was still alive then especially if it had happened right after the extraction took place. But he looked rather familiar, like an instance of deja vu.

"Father, what is a jinchuriki? Is that a word from the old language?" Shinigami-sama stiffened slightly and cursed at the slip-up, but shook his head quickly.

"Oh, don't worry about it. Just remembering something long forgotten. We need to get him to the infirmary right away. He's greatly malnourished and injured by the looks of it and the time is rather late. We can pick this up sometime later. Spirit, would you?"

"Yeah, I'm on it. Want me to stay and watch over him?" the scythe asked as he gingerly picked up the boy. The immortal nodded and turned to move back to his mirror.

"Yes, thank you. At least make him comfortable and get some rest yourself. Medusa will be in early for work like always and she can begin her diagnosis then. Kid, Patty, Liz? Head home for now. I'll alert you if there's any change. And thank you for your work." The four said their goodbyes and made to leave but a sudden call from the shinigami caused the three teenagers to pause. "Oh, I almost forgot! As punishment for destroying the pyramid in the aftermath, I'm confiscating your whole soul collection. Cheers!"

Silence chilled the room at the revelation but the barking laugh given off by the retreating Spirit set off the quivering chain reaction. Liz cried out, Patty dropped to her knees as she clutched her stomach and laughed heavily, and Kid began pounding the ground in disgust as he called himself every dirty name he could think of. But the whole time that the depressing scene carried on, Shinigami-sama's eyes rested solely on the nearly forgotten storage scroll.

To seal away only one person, why was it so large?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A soft scent assaulted his nostrils, the sterilizing chemicals stinging and causing his still closed eyes to water in response. His sleepy mind instinctively thought 'hospital' as awareness returned to his sleepy mind. Realizing that the idea meant he must have been injured and sacked away in the building caused the lump to moan in annoyance and shuffle around in his bed. He had to have healed by now! So why did he feel so weak?

Blue eyes, weary and weak from extreme disuse, winced as the fluorescent lighting of the room burned at his tired irises and snapped shut as a response. Damn, he must have really been out of it for awhile now. But how exactly did he become injured again? The last thing he remembered was…

**SNAP**

His eyes shot open as a twitching hand shot to his stomach, pulling the medical gown aside to reveal the rather skinny frame underneath. The bones poking through his skin never even registered as he focused his chakra and waited. The warm energy felt wonderful after being hidden away for so long but no matter how much he focused, nothing ever changed. The seal was gone. Kyuubi was gone. The youki was all but gone, a few remaining vestiges still circled about in his tenketsu.

But the beast was gone.

He had to see the moon. Now.

The heart-rate monitor attached to his chest began skyrocketing in tempo as its host struggled to get out of the cot, ripping out the many needles and other equipment that littered his body. Unknown to the male as well, his soul was reacting just as violently and sending out a beacon to all those who could sense his fluctuating spirit that dwelled within. Finally free of his bedding, the boy wobbled over to the window and threw it open. It was night time and the moon was high, but it still caused the blonde to stagger back as though struck.

The moon…there was an eye alright. But nothing that looked like the sharingan. In fact, it had a full face complete with a set of matching teeth…so did that mean Madara won? The door slammed open and caused him to jump in fright only to calm a bit upon seeing a man with hair the color of Gaara's and a suit jog into the room. His look was one of interest as he sighed and gave a small smile to the still guarded young male. "Hey there, you're finally awake! How are you feeling, kid?"

Spirit watched as the boy blinked in confusion, cocking his head to the side like a dog. "_What did you say?_"

'_So he does speak Japanese…that proves his language truly did give birth to the Japanese language we know today. Good thing I learned a bit back in the day._' Spirit cleared his throat and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his finger before speaking again. "_Uh…sorry, I'm a bit rusty. How are you feeling?_"

He saw the injured blonde's eyes narrow. That wasn't good. "_You're speaking Elemental now…but what were you saying before?_"

"_That was English. A language spoken in America and many other countries of the world_."

"_What the hell is English? And I've never heard of 'America' before. That doesn't sound like a country…how far away is that from Konohagakure?_" The redhead scratched awkwardly at the back of his head. It had only been a day since they found the kid and the Death Scythe wasn't sure if he should reveal any information yet. It could cause a host of mental issues or even drive the newcomer to lose his will to live.

"_Uh…this Konohagakure…where was it located again?_"

"_In the Land of Fire, duh! How stupid are you? Everyone knows the general area where the strongest ninja village is located!_"

"Oh my, the patient is awake already? But he's out of bed and shouldn't even be able to move around yet. I'm glad I decided to stick around tonight and watch over him." A new voice entered the conversation, causing both males to face the disturbance. A woman stood there with a smile on her face dressed in a black dress, white slip on shoes, and a white lab coat. Her face was smiling as her golden eyes merrily looked over the two. Her hair was short and blonde, but she had two long bangs that reached down to her chest and braided together. The boy felt a bad vibe emanating off of her and it froze him to the core, especially since he could easily tell that her happy cheer was nothing more than a mask. He was good at discovering false emotions, most of his all since a majority of his life involved faking his own. It was like her eyes were focused solely on him, and the sheen and intensity eerily reminded the male blonde of that creepy bastard Orochimaru.

"…_I don't like her…_"

"Oh? What did he say, Spirit?"

"…don't worry about it, Medusa. You're…a doctor and I guess he doesn't like them too much." Medusa smiled again and giggled lightly, covering her mouth with her hand.

"There are many who share that same viewpoint. Alas, it's one of the burdens of making sure that the sick and injured are nursed back to health." Both looked towards the invalid as they heard the window slide open and shouted out when he disappeared out the now wide portal. "We're on the second floor! He could die in such a weakened state!" she yelled in alarm. Without any thought on his part, Spirit leapt out the window after him only to see him rapidly running down the side of the wall with obvious trouble. Was that a ninja skill? Damn, what he would give to learn that.

The weapon formed a blade from the ulnar bone area of his forearm and jabbed it into the wall, allowing him to slide safely to the ground in a shower of pebbles. But by the time he touched down the mysterious male was already moving off into the city, which caused Spirit to curse and punch at the wall. Just his luck…

Left. Strange buildings. To the right…same thing. Uzumaki Naruto was lost, tired, and a bit nauseous but he only wanted to know what the hell happened to the world. Madara(?) had captured both him and Killer Bee on the battlefield of the 4th Great Shinobi War. Even with his power augmented by the golden cloak formed from the Kyuubi's chakra, it was too much to fight off the six other resurrected jinchuriki _and _the fake Uchiha Madara. Bee was knocked out of his large Hachibi transformation and Naruto soon fell after. They dragged the two underground where their energy was constantly drained by the white Zetsu until it was time for the retrieval. The Kumogakure ninja went first, and it was the last time Naruto ever saw him again.

And then it was his turn.

They chained his wounded body to the middle of the ground in front of the Gedo statue and proceeded to suck the demon fox right out of his gut. False Madara, Kabuto-maru, as well as a few of the white Zetsu clones stood atop the statue's fingers and initiated the technique. The shinobi had no idea how long he writhed there in pain but when the Kyuubi was finally taken, he felt…alone. His enemies were surprised he survived the extraction but the blonde knew it was because of his Uzumaki blood. After all, his mother survived when the same thing happened to her on the night of his birth. Good old Uzumaki extended vitality.

Then the memories became more of a blur. There were explosions and yelling but he was too exhausted at that point in time to focus. He did remember one glaring fact though…the masked Uchiha had forced the nine biju into one mass of demonic chakra and sealed it within himself. The power of the Juubi had been too great for his adult body to handle and he died. But before he exploded from the overload, he fulfilled his crazed ambition and cast his powerful genjutsu upon the moon. The next thing he remembered was waking up in the hospital room in an entirely new place, this America, with people that could speak an entirely different language than he was accustomed to, with snake women and weird buildings.

So he ran.

It was too much for his weakened mental defenses to bear. His body was weak as well and he was having a hard time controlling it but there was enough strength in him to at least move around and channel his chakra. Maybe his Uzumaki blood helped speed up recovery times like the Kyuubi used to. Circulating the energy throughout his limbs at least gave him more strength than a normal civilian. He moved past pointed gates and full, healthy trees, uncaring in the least that he was dressed in nothing more than a flimsy medical gown and could accidentally flash someone.

Seeing no one around at such a late hour, Naruto let his sagging muscles collapse on a nearby park bench with an explosive sigh. There was so little information and so much he needed to find. "_Urg…this is bullshit._"

"_Is it? I rather like this time of night although it's a bit chilly to be running around without any pants on, kid._" Naruto jumped again as his head snapped to the left, thinking the redhead had followed him in his escape. Instead, it was an entirely different and yet greatly appalling figure. For one thing, there was a large screw embedded directly through his skull and his messy grey hair. Large round glasses adorned his face and his visible pale skin had the occasional stitches sewn into the flesh. These stitches seemed to be the man's unique theme, seeing as both his white lab coat, black pants, multicolored shirt, and boots also contained the zig-zag stitches.

"_You can speak my language too? You're the second one I met now._" he said casually even as he prepared for a confrontation. More than likely he'd lose but Naruto would still get some hits in.

"_Mmm, so you're the one Shinigami-sama mentioned. He contacted me this morning about a surprising find and lo and behold the blonde relic wakes up, gives off one hell of a soul reaction, and runs away. Funny how our paths crossed, huh? You mind if I take a seat?_" he asked in a monotone reminiscent of Shikamaru. Naruto gazed at the empty spot next to him and slowly nodded, knowing it wouldn't matter. He wouldn't be able to outrun this guy right now even if he tried. One hand balled into a fist but the guest ignored it like the motion wasn't even a threat.

"_Yeah, sure…whatever._" The man nodded and dropped down next to him, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his coat as he did so. Naruto stiffened but only a cigarette and lighter were retrieved and he lit up, inhaling greedily as the smoke escaped from his nostrils.

"_So what's your name? I'm Franken Stein, or Stein Franken as you would understand. I'm a scientist, researcher, and three-star meister here in Death City, Nevada._"

"_...that's a weird name for both you and this place. I thought it was called America._"

"_No no, America is the country. There are fifty divisions inside the country called states and Nevada is one of them. Death City is what this town is called._" Naruto grunted and looked down at his slightly quivering hands, finally noticing how thin his arms looked. His muscles had atrophied and he had lost his muscle mass he had earned through constant training. "_You were sealed away for a long time, you know. Even put in stasis, your body slowly lost its normalcy over the millennia you were asleep._" Seeing the rather blank look he was now getting, Stein felt he had to explain. "_Inside a large scroll. That's where you were found. Shinigami-sama had to use an old form of lost energy called chakra to unseal what was inside, ergo…you. And millennium means a thousand years in case you were wondering, though you were apparently trapped in there for several._"

Naruto found his mouth hanging open like a trap as his fingers gripped at the scratchy fabric of his clothes. Thousands of years? Sealed in a scroll? Chakra was a lost energy? Bullshit. Everyone had chakra inside of them.

"…_I don't believe you._"

"_I'm not trying to trick you if that's what you're thinking. There'd be no point to that. I'm just explaining what we've discovered. So what say we get you out of this cold? Your body's weak and even a minor infection can turn deadly with such a weakened immunity._"

"_There you are! Dammit, why'd you run off like that?_"

"Oh, hello there Spirit. It's been awhile since we've last seen each other hasn't it?"

"S-Stein? What're you doing here?" The odd man turned the bolt in his head with a few good twists before shrugging and knocking the ashes from the tip of his cigarette. Naruto did his best to inch away at the gestures. Stein's eyes lanced over to the timid acting Death Scythe before returning to the smoke hovering in front of his face with a small grin.

"I happened to be in the area when I felt his wavelength and decided to check it out. I never realized it would be the same boy you found last night. His soul is quite large, you know. Mine's about less than half as large as his so it would take major training to reign it all in." Spirit moved ever closer to the duo as Naruto looked between the two adults, unable to decipher what they were saying. Noticing his eyes, Stein chuckled. "He needs to learn English, too."

"Yeah, sure…so I'll just take him and go then. He needs rest and fluids before meeting with Shinigami-sama."

"I told him he was from the past and how he was discovered."

it was amusing to watch Spirit explode in anger, yelling on about how callous he was and the damage he could have caused as Stein sat there like the epitome of nonchalance. One leg was draped over the other as his left arm stretched over the back of the bench. The other was holding his cancer stick lazily as he gazed up at the stars. They looked really pretty tonight...he wished he could get up there and cut one open.

"-and I can't believe you would go ahead and say something like that without authorization! Who knows how much it could affect him now! He's in a fragile state and you could've just pushed him over the edge!"

"He looks fine to me."

"You don't know that!"

"_How do you feel about me explaining what I just told you prior to Spirit's arrival?_" the stitched man asked, looking over to the rather quiet blonde at his side.

"_So his name's Spirit, huh? That's a weird name too…well, to tell you the truth…I think I'm in shock. I don't remember too much before I was sealed or whatever. And also... everyone I knew is dead now unless they could live for thousands of years which I highly doubt…_" He inhaled and exhaled slowly as his shoulders sagged, showing the defeat he was feeling in his very soul. "_…what am I supposed to do now?_"

"_That's an answer only you can come up with. Wither away in defeat or regain your strength. There's a whole new world out there to explore and learn from. I suggest you go with the second option but that's just me._"

"_I'll think about it..._"

"_You know, you never did tell me your name._"

Naruto stood and stretched, flexing his hand a couple times to get the blood flowing. "_Naruto…Uzumaki Naruto. Genin of Konohagakure and toad sage extraordinaire._" Stein and Spirit shared a look at the rather odd introduction but neither commented on it. The tall meister stood as well, pointing a thumb over his shoulder down one of the darkened alleyways.

"_Why don't the two of you stay at my house for the night? It's closer than going all the way back to Shibusen and I have a couple extra rooms and medical supplies for his recovery._" The scythe weapon immediately paled and broke into a cold sweat as memories long past resurfaced in a terrifying wave. Naruto was immediately thrown over Spirit's shoulder as the male sprinted away, leaving a trail of dust in his wake. Stein laughed at the sight knowing that Spirit believed he would try to dissect both of them in their sleep.

It was true, of course. Stein never did get enough data from his old experiments on his former partner, plus there was now a living, breathing, ancient walking around Death City. A mildly demented grin spread across his face as he chuckled. The insanity in his soul flared up for but a moment before retreating back into the depths of his body and returned his smile to something normal and less terrifying. There would always be other chances to cut them apart. Stein had the feeling he'd be seeing the both of them more in the coming days anyways.

Finishing off the remains of his cigarette, the butt was crushed under his heel and moved off into the darkness. He had to complete the finishing touches to his latest experiment as well as prepare for a test that the shinigami asked him to create and participate in. He hadn't seen combat in awhile…it should be fun.

Calculations, outcomes, and data swirled through the silver-haired man's mind with every step his legs took. So much to do…and so little time.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Two more days passed before Naruto finally felt at least strong enough to move around without twitching. Medusa had subjected him to what seemed like countless tests on both his mind, body, and strangely enough, soul while commenting that he was such a fast healer. How she could test his soul was lost on him but the ninja tolerated both her presence and analysis as best as he could. As far as she knew, he was just a boy who went through a lot and was brought in for treatment and he hoped to keep it that way.

Spirit had been his constant companion during these times, talking with him and doing his best to keep Naruto's mind off the past. The adult told him about the city and his powers which Shinigami-sama allowed, which greatly intrigued the blonde. No matter how much he concentrated though, he couldn't cause blades to sprout from his body or turn into a skinny cross like Spirit could but the redhead did notice Naruto's soul waver with the attempts. That was something to report to his boss.

He also constantly talked about his daughter Maka Albarn, a technician that was enrolled here at the school. He was fine with that, enjoying seeing a dad speak so happily about a child but after the first hour it got really annoying and caused Naruto to throw a bedpan at him. Such complimenting could only be handled in small amounts. His accuracy was way off too…he'd have to work on that when he was free. Even though he could be annoying, Naruto was actually grateful for the man and his presence.

And then came the day where he was supposed to meet this 'Shinigami-sama' or 'Lord Death' though everyone seemed to prefer the first. What a strange nickname for a person but hey, he must've been a great warrior to be put on par with the god of death. Sitting in a wheelchair (he could walk just fine, dammit), Spirit wheeled him past a bunch of students who whispered and discreetly pointed at the blonde even though he could see and hear them doing so. The best part about the situation was he finally had real clothes covering his body again again. A white t-shirt and black pants. Plain in his eyes but so much more comfortable than that itchy gown.

"_Dammit, Spirit. They're all talking about me and acting like they aren't._" That caused the weapon to laugh.

"_Oh? How do you know exactly? It's not like you know any English to understand them._"

"_I just do, okay!_" he yelled back harshly, gripping the handles on the metal chair strongly. "_…I'm used to that sort of thing and I can sense when it's happening._" A few of the students backed up at his outburst and Naruto blanched at his idiocy, slapping on a stupid grin and waving. A few waved back, giggling at his goofy look which caused him to silently sigh. Spirit filed the action away for his report later on. Faking emotions and knowing when people were talking behind his back…just another curious chain in this boy's psyche.

The two turned down a rather empty hallway and continued on in silence. After passing through a rather large metal door and underneath a bunch of guillotines, they found themselves in a large room with four other inhabitants. Two were rather cute girls, possibly related, and a shorter boy in a black suit. But his eyes were drawn to the figure in the black cloak and skull mask. They were introduced as Liz, Patty, Death the Kid, and Shinigami-sama himself.

"_So that's the shinigami guy, huh? He looks nothing like the real one._"

"_Well it has been a long, long time since the era of the Elemental Nations. Even I would change my appearance after all that time. I'm not as scary now, am I?_" the reaper joked, bouncing around in his spot to emphasize his last point.

"_I wouldn't know seeing as I never exactly saw his true appearance but I heard he had horns and a big, ugly face and a knife and prayer beads._" Naruto leaned forward as his fingers tapped against the wheels of his chair. "_And what exactly __**do**__ you know about the Elemental Nations, oh mighty god?_"

Shinigami-sama seemed to deflate at the ugly comment, causing both Spirit and Kid to crack up at the insult. When it was explained to the Thompsons, both girls descended into laughter too at his expense. "_I'm a lot handsomer now, you know…as for your homeland, I know much Uzumaki Naruto, just as I know of you. It took me awhile to dredge up such hidden memories. After all, I was the one who took the souls of your first four village leaders because of the use of a forbidden technique._" No. There was no way anyone would know about the Shiki Fuin, unless-

Unless this was the honest-to-god, soul eating, end-of-your-life immortal. Naruto lunged forward out of his seat faster than one would expect of a teenager stuck in a wheelchair and grabbed the front of his robes with both hands. The click of a barrel signified Kid had his pistols pointed at the blonde as well as Spirit and his blades. But Naruto paid them no mind, his attention focused solely on the three-holed mask hovering inches in front of his own face.

His teeth were grinding together angrily and Shinigami-sama noticed his chakra was flaring up in response, bits of demonic red moving in and out of the normal blue. Interesting. "_Release their souls and tell me all you know! Now!_" A cold weight rested against his temple as one of the gun barrels took point blank aim. Naruto looked to his right to see Kid standing there with the other pistol angled towards his stomach. Not knowing what exactly it was but sensing imminent danger, he quickly let go of the fabric and used his forearm to knock away the weapon situated near his head with a reflex that caused Kid to lose his train of thought. His other arm knocked the second hand skyward where his fingers stabbed at Kid's wrist, causing him to lose his grip in the process.

Naruto snatched the weapon out of the air without looking and twisted his body weight into Kid, sending him skidding away as he pointed the gun at him. It was an odd weapon, as cold as any metal shuriken or kunai but he was unsure how to use it. Kid used his free hand to lift his body and spin into a standing position before pointing his remaining gun right back at Naruto. The two stared each other down but the young shinigami couldn't believe what was happening.

"How is he holding Patty without any backlash? And why hasn't she changed back yet to escape? Is he instinctively setting his soul wavelength to be in tune with Patty's to spare himself from the danger?"

"Wowee, that is amazing~! But then again we won't know until he tries firing it, will we?" Kid looked at his father but saw him nod, wondering what exactly he was thinking. He fired a warning shot at Naruto's feet, the small bolt of soul wavelength impacting against the stone and causing the shinobi to hop away. Now knowing how to work it the blonde squeezed the trigger on his own but nothing happened except the gentle clicking of an empty chamber. He pulled it a few more times but still nothing erupted from the hole. It was in that moment Patty decided to reassemble herself in a flash of pink, alerting Naruto that she was one of those weapon people like Spirit was since he never saw her first transform. The boy still had no idea how they did it but thought it must've been some awesome kekkei genkai.

As the female blonde skipped back over to her partner, the raven-haired teen gave her a hard glare but she merely turned back into a gun without complaint. "Why didn't you transform and escape sooner?"

"_I'm sowwy, I just wanted to see what he did!_" she giggled, causing him to turn his head in disgust. She was so childish sometimes!

Death moved forward and placed a cartoonish hand on Naruto's shoulder and causing him to growl at the contact. Shaking his head, the immortal sighed and patted his shoulder again. "_I ask that you calm down as I will gladly answer your questions. You move quite well for a recovering patient, ho ho ho…First off, I have already released all the pure souls that were in my possession long ago. They have already passed on, so your demand has already been met. As for what I know…well, I'll do my best to tell you. After all, back then I was more like a mindless beast until after the Great Change. Or as you would know it…the Moon's Eye Plan._"

Naruto inhaled sharply as his anger ebbed away. "_So…that fake Madara really did succeed…_"

The hand was removed as Shinigami-sama glided away back to his mirror, staring into its dark reflection as Spirit did his best to translate for the Thompson sisters and whatever Kid phrases couldn't understand. "_You see, the genjutsu was placed upon the moon but was disrupted when Madara's body couldn't handle the strain of having the combined force of nine biju within himself. The moon itself gained a…vague 'sentience' from the demonic chakra after his body was destroyed and its light rays gave off a new type of radiation. All those in the immediate area of the fake Madara were destroyed in the blast, further saturating everything with the energy. New life was born as time moved forward, infected with the radiation since their inception at birth which gave them a strange power…the power to control their very souls. Just like you see the Kid doing, although turning into weapons like Spirit can do came much, much later in the timeline._"

"_...so we won? I mean yeah, the bastard took all nine demons but he died and everyone lived after without being stuck in an illusion, right?_"

Shinigami-sama seemed to smile under his mask. "_Yup! Sure, people were sick for awhile due to the new radiation seeping into their bodies but they recovered and lived on. Ninjas continued their way of life for years until the whole system started to die off and be replaced by modern times._"

It was like a weight was lifted from his very soul as he heard those words, causing Naruto to sag in relief as his legs gave out and he fell to the floor. The sisters rushed forward in worry now that he was no longer deemed a threat and helped him back to his chair, the day's excitement draining him of his energy. He smiled at the two in thanks before turning back to the group's leader. "_None of my friends were caught in that explosion...were they?_"

"_I'm sorry but it's too far back for me to remember specific people. I only remember you because you were a jinchuriki and I kept a close eye on those put in such a position. I expect to see you here again so we can speak more, Naruto. But for now you should head back and continue recovering, and tell no one of what has taken place here today unless I allow it. There are dangerous people out there who would love to have someone with your abilities if they ever found out. The most Kid and his partners know is that you're from the past and know well enough to keep it under wraps, and my employees like Spirit are all trustworthy._"

"_Who the hell am I going to tell? Thanks…for this, though. But do you think there's any way I could ever get back?_" Hope cracked through into his voice, no matter how hard he tried to keep it even. He mentally yelled at himself for the slip up because his question was met with dire news. It would've been better to just keep his mouth shut but then the idea would've burned away at his patience.

"_No, I'm sorry again. There are only theories to time travel with no actual attempts. You're stuck with us but I promise you won't regret it!_"

Naruto grinned slightly and looked away, throwing a wave over his shoulder as Spirit wheeled him back towards the door. Kid coughed into his hand once he heard metal meet wooden door jam and looked over at his parent with a questioning look. "That boy is quite…different. Trained and dangerous. I imagine if he knew how to properly handle a gun, even one that used wavelength, we all could have been in danger. Except for you of course."

"Yes, I wouldn't have allowed him to harm anyone if i could prevent it. But imagine for a moment that you recently woke up from slumber and it was actually thousands of years since your time period and everything's changed. You are _literally_ the last of your kind. Wouldn't you go through a myriad of emotions as you tried to cope? If I'm remembering right, he showed anger, curiosity, relief, sadness, and some sort of amusement there at the end."

"True…"

"His smile before he left was forced." Liz added, her eyes still focused on the area where the two men disappeared. Patty nodded sagely, closing her eyes and crossing her arms over her bust as she agreed with her sister.

"Yes. He will be watched in case his emotional state takes a turn for the worst. But enough about gloomy news-what did you notice during our whole meeting?"

Patty chipped in, waving her hand wildly as though she was in class. Shinigami-sama pointed a finger at her causing the girl to squeal in delight for being called on. "Ooo! I know! His soul wavelength was really nice when he tried using me! It's almost like he was a meister or something with a really malleable wavelength that resonated with mine but he didn't know how to control it so he couldn't get me to form any bullets!" she chirped quickly in one breath.

"Spot on! Good call, Patty!"

"So that means…before he was sealed, this radiation you spoke of entered his body as well and more than likely his body and soul changed over the time he was sealed."

"Ding ding! Correct! Great deduction, Kid! My thoughts exactly!"

"You're thinking about trying to get him to join the academy, aren't you sir?"

"That's three in a row, Liz! You three are on fire!"

Kid smirked and shook his head slowly, throwing his arms up in defeat. "That's if he wants to join. He may just sit around for the rest of his life."

"Then I think you three should befriend him! After all, it's always just Kid and his pistols. Don't you have any other friends?" He was met with silence. "Well that answers my question. In fact, why don't you go get to know him better right now? Kid can speak enough Japanese to carry on a fragmented conversation and Spirit will be there. Now scoot! And don't forget you start class here yourself in a few days!"

"Yes, father."

"Sure."

"'kay, 'kay!"

The three departed the Death Room leaving Shinigami-sama all by himself. What he said to them was true; they could use more friends and Naruto could use an anchor to keep him stable. Stein had shown an interest in him as well but that could've been merely because he wanted to dissect him for the secrets he held. Oh well. Stein would be starting here soon to take over the teaching position for Sid and hopefully Naruto would quickly rise into the ranks of the E.A.T. classes that the meister would be teaching. Much easier to keep an eye on both of them that way.

For now his mirror surveillance would have to suffice. And as he watched his son and the girls speaking with the blonde ninja he knew he had made the right decision.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_A/N: A new take on this type of crossover. My other one's up for grabs if anyone wants to adopt it. I thought of rewriting it and redid the first chapter, but I just can't seem to figure out what I want to do with it. Which equals me making this one. Just so you know I'll be using parts of it in this story, like my Spring-Heeled Jack enemy. Just a heads up._

_I. Have. Too. Many. Ideas. All those I mentioned back in the third chapter of Power of the Planet, plus a KH crossover that's almost finished and I'm thinking of trying my hand at another Fairy Tail story. Urg…at least I have until Monday before classes start up again._

_Also, this story was partly inspired by Myevltin's __A different Kind of Soul__. There won't be a multitude of OC's except for one I know for certain but some things will seem similar if you've read it before. Another heads up so you're all not like, "Yo, man! Someone's already done this shit!" "I know, calm the fuck down ya'll. That's why I'm telling you this."_

_Later._


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Soul Eater…that's it.

Chapter 2:

Three days. Tres. San. Drei. Whatever you wanted to call it, three of them passed by agonizingly slow as Naruto continued to sit around in his bed and 'recover'. He was already recovered, dammit. Even without the blasted furball sealed inside of him, his own natural vitality sped up the arduous task of regaining nutrients and muscle mass. Whereas he didn't have the definitive outline in his body like he used to, he could still get up and move around like nothing was wrong.

He had made new…acquaintances, if that's what you wished to call them. Besides Spirit and the ever present snake-like woman, Liz, Patty, and Kid would visit him often and just talk. They told him more about the world and how things worked, finding his reactions hilarious when the blonde found something that hadn't existed back in his time. Patty had accidentally let it slip in her own unique wording that Shinigami-sama had asked them to try and befriend him as well before the other two chastised her for her slip up. He wasn't offended though. It was nice to have others around who were his age in this time period who he could get along with.

Speaking of Patty, she reminded him a bit of his younger self. Bright, optimistic, and always up for a laugh. In fact, they could have somehow been related due to the hair and eye color. But he knew it was impossible since he never even had time to go on a date or anything else that revolved around the courting system. It was always training, traveling, or trying to get Sasuke back. In retrospect, that really was an idiotic promise to make. The Uchiha had tried to kill him multiple times without remorse and more than likely died in Madara 2's death blast. In that sense, he was free of his word especially since it wasn't exactly his fault for being put in a scroll and sealed away for countless years. And also…they were all dead now.

An awesomely depressing thought that he forced away from the forefront of his mind. One day, however...he'd have to deal with it.

But back to Patty. He thought she was attractive and they easily got along even when she acted like a younger child, but on one occasion he was witness to the scarier side that lurked just beneath the surface of her childish nature. Both sisters had sat on the left side of his bedding and it had caused Kid to suffer from a nosebleed and bodily twitching. Spirit had left to go out for something to eat, so Kid had been left alone on the right side where he constantly muttered on about how things were 'unsymmetrical' and 'with only three guests he couldn't fix it'. Liz had grown tired of him blubbering like a baby and kindly asked her sister to set him straight. The shorter girl sat there in her seat fidgeting with her fingers before her face morphed into a horrifyingly drastic and angry glare. She all but threatened the mini-shinigami to, and I quote, "Shut the hell up and start acting like a goddamn man." Kid had hid under the bed sobbing, yelling on about how he hated Patty as the now chipper girl giggled and gave the peace sign. Naruto had not understood what she had said to him, but to see him start blubbering like a baby caused him to laugh hard enough to almost fall out of his seat.

Liz was alright in her own way. She too was a good-looking girl that reminded Naruto of Ino with the way she went on about fashion and boys. Out of the three, she was the most level-headed. She had the ability to use her words to calm Kid down when he began to have a panic attack and showed a high amount of love and affection for her younger sister. It made him smile to see the bonds they shared. It would take more time spent together before he could truly see what she was like as a person but that train of thought didn't bug him either.

And then there was Kid…oh boy. Besides the unbearable love of symmetry which seemed to enmesh with his very way of life and everything within, he was an alright guy. The young shinigami did his best to learn the basics about the mysterious blonde and he in turn extended the same courtesy to the other three. A tentative friendship was slowly forming between the blonde ninja, two weapons, and the meister much to the pleasure of Shinigami-sama. The only thing holding them back was the language barrier which he hoped would soon be a thing of the past.

On one of the days Naruto was visited within the infirmary, Kid had allowed Naruto to hold Liz in weapon form and explain the functions of what a gun was and what it could do. To say the recovering boy was shocked was something else, even as he slowly ran his fingers over her gunmetal body and different angles. He did understand the part where Kid mentioned his own wavelength automatically conjoined itself with Liz's so he didn't injure himself or the girl, which he thought was cool. Pointing at the ceiling he once again tried to fire off a shot after learning what the weapon could do but still nothing happened. Seeing an opportunity to explain to him the use and power of wavelengths, the raven-haired technician waited for Spirit to stop by before using him as a better translator.

First Naruto had to feel for Liz's own soul, feel the energy it produced and try to synchronize with it. He didn't understand that truthfully and instead channeled his chakra inside her on his first attempt. While she wasn't able to fire a compressed form of the blonde's wavelength, Liz instead suddenly found herself quite jittery and twitchy in her weapon mode, like she had drank one too many cups of coffee and gained a surplus of energy. As her 'body' glowed a faint blue, he sighed and cut off the flow and looked pointedly over at Kid for more tips.

This continued on in some fashion before Patty suggested he meditate to try and find his soul, causing both boys to slap their foreheads in frustration. Why didn't they think of that? It had been much too long since Naruto communed with nature and Kid mimed the action because that was literally one of the easiest ways for a newbie to find their power. So the blonde gently set Liz back in her seat and sat cross-legged on top of his covers before breathing in slowly and expanding his consciousness.

Oh how he had missed this.

The energy was very different due to the Great Change and all that jazz, he guessed…but it gave him a familiar comfort as he reached out and touched the wisps of chakra that hovered outside. Even being in the middle of a desert in a world that was much more developed than his time didn't mean there was any shortage of nature chakra. It was just...more dispersed, hidden away while waiting for the day someone once again called on it. And that energy indeed answered, greedily siphoned into his own stores and entangled itself with the boy's own power source. Without Kyuubi in there taking up a fair portion of his tenketsu, there were a few minutes where things were touch and go and he almost lost himself to the stone curse. But in the end he readjusted the flow and found his center.

Those in the room watched curiously as Naruto began meditating much more fiercely than they thought was needed, his brow growing moist and teeth clenched together in heavy concentration. Someone cried out in alarm when small portions of his skin began growing grey and stone-like, as though he was being petrified. Patty had made to grab his arm and snap him out of it until Liz and Kid stopped her. "We don't know what he's doing but if you interrupt it may make things worse! All we can do is wait!"

And wait they did. Until Kid suddenly gasped with wide eyes as he looked on at the struggling old-world resident. But his eyes weren't focused on Naruto himself, oh no, they were gazing at the large soul projection that encompassed them all now that Kid was focused enough to notice it. As Naruto's breathing steadied and he grew more serene with the rough patches flaking away, Kid noticed the inconsistencies in the blonde's soul smooth out and move without any trouble. Whatever he was doing was working.

It was then they noticed his eyes. Orange markings had appeared around closed eye sockets, prompting Liz to hold back the other exuberant girl as she did her best to wiggle free and touch the markings in wonder. How he suddenly had those, none were sure, but it was going to be the first question asked when he finished whatever he was doing.

Meanwhile, Naruto was still concentrating immensely. He had dug deeper than just skimming through his tenketsu and was searching for anything that reminded him of the feeling he got when holding either Patty or Liz. Instead of focusing around his stomach or heart, he dove into the space smack dab in the center of his chest. And then he felt it…like a heartbeat. But it wasn't the movement of the blood-pumping organ. It was soft and static-like, giving off a gentle hum as he reached out and caressed it with his mind.

Was this his soul? He had to hazard a guess that yes it was. Possibly finding what he had been looking for, Naruto withdrew from his nirvana and cracked open his eyes. Liz couldn't hold her back anymore and lost her grip on her sister who proceeded to run her fingers all over his face while staring intently into his eyes. They were now golden in coloration and the pupil had morphed into a bar, causing the blonde to giggle and point towards his eyes.

"Yellow! Yellow! Sheep eyes!"

Spirit took a closer look and rubbed his chin. "_What the hell did you do, Naruto?_"

"_Oh, ya know…just becoming one with nature. I think I found my soul too…maybe. Can you get one of the girls to change again?_"

"_Uh, yeah. Sure…_Patty, Liz. One of you transform again. Naruto thinks he found his soul though I still have no idea what's going on with his eyes."

"Okaaay!" Patty chirped and disassembled in a hue of pink before landing in the boy's outstretched hand. Compared to the few other times he tried using her, this time she felt a separate humming tickle her soul like he was becoming acquainted with it. The fingers of his soul touched against her own, causing her to laugh before he seemed to accept how hers pulsed and match his own wavelength with hers. Nodding to himself, he exhaled slowly and aimed at the wall as Patty took in a portion of her fellow blonde. Unlike all the other times he had attempted to fire, pink energy accumulated at the barrel in a flash as he pulled the trigger. A cannonball-sized hole was blown through the brick and plaster, nearly blowing Naruto out of his seat from the unintended kickback.

"Holy shit!" Spirit had to scrape his jaw up off the floor as Naruto righted himself and shook his stinging hand and fingers. Patty had returned to normal and was rubbing her whole body with a cute pout, causing Liz to wrap an arm around her as the blonde male sent her an apologetic look. "Did you see the power behind that thing!"

"Yes, we all saw, heard, and felt that. Patty, are you alright?" The girl nodded and began kicking her legs off the side of the stool.

"Yup, I'm fine. It tickled and then really tickled, and then hurt a little bit and made my body sore. You used too much wavelength, mister!" she scolded, closing an eye and wagging a finger in the confused shinobi's face. At Spirit's translation the boy winced and had Spirit tell her he was sorry and didn't mean to. His features conveyed he really was apologetic and she forgave him for the slip up before everyone began badgering him about what he did and what was up with his eyes.

"He says he absorbed nature chakra, whatever the hell that is, and it allowed him to find his soul and figure out how to use it."

"Okay…but what does this nature chakra do besides change his eyes?" Naruto said something and grinned before stiffening suddenly hopping out of his bed.

"He said you'll find out maybe one day, and his eyes change to look like the creatures that taught him the skill. And I have no idea why he got up." It was then Naruto moved over to the large hole in the wall and proceeded to rip through it like paper, much to the blatant surprise of those present. Widening it enough to slip through, he jumped out and proceeded to run up the side in his bare feet. All but Spirit worried as he disappeared through the portal but a quick explanation calmed them of their fear. If he could escape through the window and survive back when he could barely move around, then this current feat was nothing for him. "I still wonder why he ran away though."

"Would someone please explain why my patient is missing and why there's a destroyed portion of the wall?" All four wavelength users gulped and slowly turned to see Medusa with a hand on her hip and a wholly unamused frown adorning her pretty face. Why that little shit! That's why he ran away! He could sense the doctor was on her way and booked it so as to not be punished! "And who was the one that produced that overly large soul reaction which I'm guessing is what blew that hole in the wall?"

A weight attached itself to her leg as Spirit attempted to make himself appear as cute as possible and unassuming in nature. He failed but she didn't say it out loud. "Oh, Medusa-chan! It was only an accident! Please don't punish the children for their mistake!" The woman merely smiled and patted his head but on the inside she was downright murderous. She hated having this red-haired buffoon groping her but she had to keep up her appearances lest they find out what she truly was. All she could do was weather his actions and then kill him painfully when the time came.

"If the students won't be punished then the adult who was there at the time has to take responsibility, no?" The Death Scythe froze in his actions, a trickle of sweat dripping down between his eyes before he flung an arm out and pointed at the hole. As if on cue a few loose pieces of the wall broke off and clattered to the floor which prompted him to shout out.

"It was all Naruto!"

"Oh…really…then he has figured out how to handle his soul wavelength then?" The others nodded, confirming what she had sensed when the woman had been away from the room. "Well, well…it seems we have another meister on our hands. Oh and Spirit, please let go of my leg or I'm telling Shinigami-sama the repairs are your fault." she added sweetly, causing the weapon to gasp explosively and disentangle himself as though she had burned his skin with a red-hot poker.

Liz stood and spared a glance towards the hole, knowing they would more than likely have to go and tell the death god what had transpired. "Where did he go anyways?" Kid closed his eyes and focused and before long he snapped the yellow orbs open and angled his chin towards the ceiling.

"He's on the roof. I suppose he'll be back once he overcomes the terror of answering for the damages. Come now Liz, Patty. Father wanted to see us anyways and I suppose now is as good a time as any." The girls complied and the three left the infirmary, leaving behind the two adults by themselves. Silence fell between Spirit and Medusa as the man slowly moved one of his arms up and around her shoulder. That was, until she cleared her throat and threw him a very strained smile.

"I believe you should leave."

"Yeah I figured…" As soon as he was out of sight her grin dropped and her face turned deadly. Her eyes sharpened into a dangerous gaze and a rather snake-like hiss escaped from her throat as she roughly grabbed her wheeled office chair and sat down in it. A blackened wisp of energy leaked out from between her lips as she scowled and rummaged around for the file she had created on Naruto due to her being his medical caretaker.

"Sometimes I wonder how much longer I can last here without snapping." she muttered to herself, writing in a few more notes below his picture. The only thing that gave her renewed hope was this new blonde. No one had told her where he had come from or what happened to him, merely stating he needed to be healed. But his body was already healing at more than double the rate of a normal human. Did he have witch blood in him or something else that altered his body type? No, she would have noticed this when she drew his blood. And now he had manipulated his soul into destroying a large portion of her room's wall without any foreseeable loss of energy. Hell, he jumped out and ran away again just like that night a couple days ago without a thought. Obviously it was something he was used to but that only raised more questions.

Damn it to hell! She needed more information! She looked down, barely noting she had crushed the pen she had been holding in her palm. Throwing away the destroyed item, she took to tapping her cheek in thought. It seemed she would have to watch him closer in the coming days.

All she knew was he better be worth it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He didn't know how long he had been sitting there meditating, but after Naruto had fled the nurse's office and scaled the building he was too absorbed in his surroundings to head back. Yes, he had destroyed the wall by accident. But then he sensed Medusa moving towards the room and now that he was in sage mode he could feel the coldness in her energy. While he knew he'd probably only be reprimanded for the action, the ninja just had the urge to go wherever Medusa wasn't at that moment.

So he just stayed outside and continued meditating. Everything just felt so different than he remembered. But because of the change, and his very recent delving into the inner workings of how to use his soul, it allowed the blonde to reach out and 'see' the souls of everyone in the city. Now, he didn't actually see them…it was more like a dot of light in his awareness similar to when he used to sense chakra signatures. But the shinobi figured he could change that with practice.

The sun was already snoring in the sky (how freaky was that?) and the moon was beginning to peek over the horizon, telling Naruto that he had been at it for quite awhile now. He figured now was good a time as any to go back. Maybe the scary doctor had calmed down by now? But as he went to release the hold of nature chakra swirling through his veins a new ping echoed in his mind. It was reminiscent of when he fired Patty. Did that mean someone was fighting with their souls inside the city?

He spared a glance down to where the infirmary was located before shrugging and standing from his perch. No one would mind if he just bugged off for as bit to check it out, right?

Nah.

So with his body reinforced beyond normalcy, he jumped.

Inside of the Death Room, there were mixed reactions to those who were watching the scene unfolded through the resident mirror. Well, more like they thought he was crazy or trying to kill himself.

"Holy shit he jumped! How'd he even get up there anyways?"

"Flying, flying!"

"I'll catch him on Beelzebub!" Kid turned and made to dash out of the room as fast as he could, hopefully moving fast enough to grab the falling blonde on his special skateboard. However, a shout from his father caused him to falter.

"Don't worry he'll be fine!"

"H-how can you say that? No one could survive jumping from the very top of the academy!" Death shook his head and gestured to the faux television screen. The three teens moved closer as Shinigami-sama zoomed in on Naruto's face which, surprisingly enough, was not one of terror and fear. Instead, it was a look of utmost concentration even as the wind blew harshly against his face and body. In fact, he looked sort of…gleeful?

And then he hit the ground like a bolt of lightning.

The impact blew up a massive smokescreen, obscuring their view as he crashed into the pavement. Liz screamed and hid her face against her sister's back as Patty covered her eyes with her hands. Kid's eyes were locked onto the screen filled with worry and morbid curiosity. Death itself, however, stood silently in his spot as he could already guess as to the blonde's fate.

As seconds ticked by and the smoke cleared away, it revealed a wholly unharmed Naruto standing in a rather large crater as he struggled to pull his feet out of the jagged holes where they were now stuck underground. Kid moved over to a large golden-colored seat where he would occasionally rest on when visiting his father, dropping into its cushion in a state of disbelief.

"He's…alive?"

Liz squeaked and peeked an eye over the blonde's shoulder. Upon seeing her newest friend rip one of his legs free from their current prison with a look of annoyance, she growled angrily and stomped over towards the mirror while shaking her fist.

"That bastard! How dare he nearly give me a heart attack! Next time I see him I'm kicking his ass!" A large hand gently pushed her out of the way as Naruto finally freed himself, allowing Death and the others to watch unimpeded. He brushed some debris from his clothing and bare feet before closing his eyes in concentration. The shinigami took that time to speak.

"Did he mention to any of you what that technique is?" He received three shakes of the head in turn.

"No, father. He explained that it involved communing with nature, nature chakra, and how it was learned from an animal. That was it."

"Ho ho! I truly never thought I would ever see such a technique with my own eyes ever again." On screen, Naruto's head snapped up and he leapt over the courtyard's wall. He slid down the incline on only the soles of his feet which would seem very uncomfortable but he was doing it without any groans and flinches. "Young…or perhaps very old, Naruto is the last user of an ancient technique once known as senjutsu and the secret will likely die with him. In fact, he actually knows the completed version, having been the first to ever control it fully."

"And what does that mean?"

"Senjutsu users become known as sages, able to absorb the energy of their surroundings to become nearly invincible as you've witnessed. There's more to it but I'll leave that for you to discover for yourselves."

Patty and Liz moved to either side if their partner's chair, all three paying rapt attention to the mirror as its view shifted from the sprinting Naruto to another interesting situation. Four students had been called in prior by Shinigami-sama, and he had given them a extra-curricular lesson to take care of for him.

Spirit's daughter Maka, her scythe partner Soul Eater Evans, another meister named Black*Star, and his multiple ninja-weapon partner Tsubaki Nakatsukasa all had zero Kishin eggs in their possession due to complications in their work. Because of this, the masked god had sent them off on a mission against a former teacher of the academy. Sid Barett had been killed, his body and soul changed into that of a zombie by an unknown accomplice (though Shinigami-sama knew who it was since he was in on it too). And to make sure they took the job seriously he told them all if they failed then they would all be expelled.

The death god chuckled to himself as he now understood where Naruto was heading. It looked like he wouldn't have to constantly switch channels to see both situations after all.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

This whole night was crazy! First they get sent on a mission where if they fail, then they _fail_ as in getting kicked out of Shibusen. Not only that, the target was in Hook Cemetery which was already creepy enough without it being nighttime in a graveyard. Then they actually find their old teacher Sid with his same appearance as he used to have. White headband, black dreadlocks, tattoos on his arms, a basketball jersey and baggy blue jeans, and the same muscular look as he had when he was alive. Except now his skin was blue, face was wider and flatter revealed his teeth, and his eyes were pure white.

Oh, and there was a large hole in his forehead.

The four students engaged him in battle, learning quickly that against a three-star technician (dead or alive), they as one-star technicians were out of their league. Sid fought with his tombstone instead of an actual demon weapon and yet he was still able to battle better than all of them combined, even channeling his wavelength to use one of his old moves known as Living End. The huge blast of cross-shaped soul energy could be seen for miles.

But they still fought back. Soul and Maka were even able to synch their souls resolutely and perform the go-to technique that all weapons and meisters learned how to perform sooner or later, otherwise known as soul resonance. The move greatly increased the power between the two specialists and allowed them access to newer, stronger abilities. In this case, Soul's scythe blade grew in size and took on a rainbow-colored hue. The attack, Witch Hunter, was very powerful but Maka was unable to control it correctly due to it being their first attempt. She lost her balance and the slash went awry, nearly splitting Black*Star in half in the process.

The other boy then used a technique called Trap Star, where he used Tsubaki in her chain scythe form to create a large star shape with said chain. Any vibrations sensed within were focused on, and in doing so Tsubaki would spring and tightly wind herself around the subject. Sadly, since Black*Star could not use the soul perception ability as greatly as Maka could, the move was indiscriminate in targeting. Both Maka and Soul were caught alongside Sid as a result.

Now that Sid had been immobilized, the small group now had their sights set on the man who had turned Sid into one of the living dead.

"ALRIGHT! Spill it already! Who made you into a zombie?" Soul leaned in towards his former teacher, trying to intimidate him with sharp teeth reminiscent of Zabuza and his crimson eyes. His white hair spiked up and swept off to the side and he wore a light tan headband with a few added pieces of flair. His hands were sitting inside of his yellow and black jacket. His pants were a maroon color and his sneakers had the same coloration as his jacket and markings that resembled his teeth.

Maka nodded and pulled out a large, thick tome and slapped it into her palm. "You better tell us. Trust me, you do not want to get hit with a Maka Chop. Soul knows." Spirit's daughter wore a uniform variation of the DWMA dress code. It involved a white blouse with a yellow sweater vest, a red plaid skirt, and black boots with white buckles. She was a fairly petite girl with a black trench coat with a cloak-like end over her body and white gloves. Her hair was ash blonde and in a set of pigtails with fringe bangs. She may have been smiling at the moment but her large, olive green eyes promised him pain if he refused to answer.

Black*Star cocked his head and placed his hands on his hips, confused by his friend Soul's actions. The last remaining Star Clan member and self-proclaimed assassin had bright blue spiky hair and green eyes. He was rather short, not that much taller than Maka, but had a well-muscled build due to his constant training. His outfit was a sleeveless black shirt with a funnel-like collar and white trousers which were black from the knee down and just a little short of being full length jeans. On the front of his collar were two short strips of grey material adorned with rivets stretching down from the top of the collar to the breast of his shirt. They were also around his neck and waist like a scarf and belt. He wore gray fingerless gloves adorned with a star. His footwear was basic black boots with white tips, with a star shape visible on the toe of each boot. On his right shoulder was a star-shaped tattoo just a shade lighter than his normal skin tone.

"Huh? Why're you so worked up?"

"Because you caught him and that makes the soul yours!"

Tsubaki giggled awkwardly with her hands clasped in front of her waist, her long ponytail changing shape halfway down into her chain to keep Sid trapped. The Nakatsukasa female was a rather well-endowed young woman, the oldest of the four teenagers. She wore a pale yellow, sleeveless outfit with a skirt ending in a slit down the side with a bright yellow star emblazoned on the right side of the chest. She also wore a dark brown scarf and a tight dark brown stocking on her right leg which tucked into her white boots. A sash similar to Black*Star's was wrapped around her slim waist. Her hair was black, tied up in the high ponytail mentioned before with a few bangs that drooped down into her face and large indigo eyes. Grey and black arm warmers fit snugly on her arms from the shoulder down she finished it all off with a sweatband with a star symbol on both wrists.

It seemed no matter how much they cajoled and bugged their zombified teacher, the group just could not get him to spill the beans. "I always keep secrets! That's the kind of guy I once was!" The blue-haired boy was quiet for once in his life, staring silently at Sid until an idea dawned on him.

"Oh, hey! I know!" His hand reached forward and grasped a handful of Tsubaki's clothing, lifting it up and exposing the lacy purple panties underneath. She squeaked in embarrassment and Sid's eyes bugged out as a happy grin spread across his face.

"It was Doctor Stein." he said, suddenly serious. But he once again clammed up as his perverted aura disappeared and his sensibility returned. Soul, not to be outdone in the long run, flipped Maka's short skirt while asking where the Doctor lived. The young girl was horrified at having her pelvis exposed to everyone present with such little clothing and ripped it out of the other boy's hands. As her white cotton underwear was once again hidden away, Sid merely sat there unimpressed which caused the scythe weapon to hang his head in failure-

-until his skull cracked against the ground thanks to a righteous Maka Chop born out of the female's fury. Sid quickly followed with a bloody head as well as Black*Star for a rather snarky comment about how 'they wouldn't torture him anymore with such a sight'. The three males all laid unmoving upon the soil, blood slowly leaking from their injured noggins while occasionally muttering the phrase "I'm sorry…" Sid, in his pain, even let fly that the mysterious Stein lived in a research laboratory just outside of the city.

As she wiped the red liquid from her face and stained her gloves even darker, she looked over to her fellow female and nodded. Tsubaki nodded back while nervously smoothing out the bottom of her battle dress. It looks like they had a new destination.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Stein was…different. When they all showed up, the first instance of oddness was his house. Large, blocky, and covered in stitches and other random markings. From there, the door opened and a figure rolled out on a computer chair but the wheels snagged on the door jamb which unfortunately deposited the new person on their back. They learned it was Stein, who then proceeded to analyze and describe their souls and personalities, all with nothing but a glance.

Black*Star tried to punch him but the three-star meister easily blocked the blow and spun in his seat, using the inertia to knock the assassin's feet right out from under him. The others attacked as well but it was child's play for Stein to knock them around like they weren't even a threat. It was this situation that Naruto came upon, landing quietly on top of Stein's roof as he watched the battle continue on.

'_Hey it's the guy with the bolt in his head. I wonder why he's fighting those kids over there? And what's up with the blue guy?_' He squinted his eyes and stared harder, allowing a few tendrils of his soul and chakra to branch out and increase his perceptive ability. Stein's soul encompassed him like a large ball, light blue in color and covered in the occasional stitch. There was also a projection of a screw poking out of the top.

The girl with the pigtails had an orange-like color and what looked like her hair poking out of the sides of her soul. The short male had a bright blue soul with numerous spikes coming out of it that looked like his hair. The white-haired boy's soul was light blue with the top resembling his hair, and the taller girl whose hair was constricting the blue guy had a pale yellow soul and its 'tail ' resembled her ponytail. The weird looking blue guy had a dark blue soul with markings that looked like his tattoos…and oddly enough, a hole through the middle of it. Compared to Stein, their souls all paled in size. All except for blue-skinned prisoner guy.

Weird.

'_I wonder if I could even sense souls without sage mode? I'll have to try that later._' He watched as they began speaking to each other after another quick round of fighting, and it caused him to wish he at least knew some of this 'English' language.

"So you're Spirit's daughter, eh?" The stitched man exhaled a stream of smoke as his glasses flashed dangerously in the low light. "Your mother took away one of my training experiments…" His lips twitched before widening greatly, showing off his teeth in a demented grin. "Heh heh heh…I want to dissect you…"

He suddenly pushed forward at extended his arm, twisting the whole hand as it impacted against Soul's transformed scythe handle and releasing what looked like electric sparks. The move sent her skittering back along the earth with her whole body twitching and suddenly numb. And that wasn't even at full power. Soul had taken the full brunt of the attack and she had only received the aftershock. The older man had just hit the duo with his soul wavelength without having to channel it through a weapon. Maka couldn't stop her fingers and limbs from beginning to shake, especially when Stein stood and moved away from his chair. The click-click-click as he turned the large screw on his person didn't help her bravery at that moment, either.

"So…where should we start from hmmm?" Maka backed up a bit, still feeling the power from his last attack. It brought up a fear she couldn't explain and her partner couldn't shake the feeling from her mind no matter how much he yelled at her. Until something in her snapped and she screamed in fury while jumping her opponent with a wide swing. Stein merely stood his ground with an extended arm and compressed his wavelength. As the blade drew closer in its arc he released his soul and watched the aftermath. Soul was blown out of her hands and sent flying as the technician roughly hit the ground. Before either of them could recover, he had her by one of her pigtails while a finger trailed along the opposite cheek in reverence. "My, you have such smooth skin."

"M-Maka!"

Stein's free hand coasted down her chest and popped open the large buttons of her jacket, letting it drop to the ground. He pulled a felt tip marker out of one of his pockets and lifted up her shirt slightly to allow access to the skin underneath where the scientist proceeded to mark thin black lines. And the whole time? He was humming to himself a tuneless melody. "So where should I slice you open first? Here? Or maybe here? Perhaps I'll turn your skin into sandpaper." The scythe meister struggled weakly in his arms but her strength was all but drained from the terror of being cut open.

A footstep behind the two alerted Stein to someone new barging into the battle. "DON'T FORGET ABOUT ME YOU BASTARD!" Black*Star rushed in with his arms ready to stab at the man, one cocked at the elbow while the other ready to deliver a palm strike. The boy took an extra step as his soul wavelength soared. The ground underneath his feet cratered and the extra force was transferred through his limbs into Stein's unprotected back. "YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY GUY AROUND WHO CAN HIT SOMEONE WITH THEIR WAVELENGTH! BLACK*STAR BIG WAVE!" The powerful attack ripped through the elder man's body and loosened his grip on Maka, who fell to the ground as Stein's nerves throughout his body went haywire.

But then Stein smirked and recovered his balance with nary a wound.

"What the hell? It didn't work!"

"Of course not. I checked your data at the beginning of the fight and matched our frequencies in the moment you attacked, like what happens between the souls of a meister and weapon. Matching wavelengths equals no damage." He pushed his glasses farther up the bridge of his nose and angled his head towards his house. "_You understand matching wavelengths, don't you Naruto? Even __**if**__ it's all feasibly instinctual for you._"

"W-what did he say at the end there?"

Soul looked over at Black*Star and shrugged. "I have no idea."

Tsubaki shouted out from her spot, having been sitting out this whole time to make sure Sid couldn't escape or interfere. "It was Japanese!" It was in that moment when a blonde boy jumped off of the roof and landed next to Stein, dressed in a pair of pale blue scrubs and no shoes. His eyes were gold with a strange pupil and orange pigmentation. And if his facial features were anything to go by, he seemed confused.

"_What the hell does 'feasibly instinctual' mean?_"

"_You were matching your soul with other souls without even understanding how to do it._"

"_Oh…okay._" Stein took a drag of his cigarette and knocked away some of the ash with a few taps of his finger, regarding the newcomer curiously.

"_You showing up today wasn't a part of my calculations. I'm surprised Medusa let you leave. And from what I could sense of your wavelength prior, I'm very surprised you didn't jump in and attack me when I had little Maka in my hands. You'd have to be brain dead not to sense the magnitude of a soul like yours. Especially with the fluidity its exuding at the moment._"

Naruto snorted and tensed slightly. "_She didn't. I ran away for a bit after blowing a hole in the wall learning how to use my wavelength or whatever. And I didn't attack because I thought the fake ninja over there had it covered…but you're a lot stronger than you look._"

"_Ohhhh, a compliment. Why thank you. So what are you going to do now?_"

"_Are you still going to attack these kids?_"

"_Of course. But I have a reason._" The shinobi snorted again. A reason? What reason was good enough to warrant trying to kill a bunch of teenagers? Stein motioned him over with his hand and the boy released some KI to show he wasn't playing around. He shrugged it off and motioned him over again, getting the blonde to move over with his muscles ready to spring into action in case Stein snapped and moved to strike him. Senjutsu or not, he wasn't sure how his body would handle whatever he had done to the scythe boy and her partner.

The two males moved over towards his house and began whispering in hushed tones, just low enough so the others couldn't hear. Only Tsubaki would have understood their conversation completely but she was too far away from their position, and the others wouldn't have understood anyways. Maka knew a bit of the Asian language due to her mother being Japanese but she was still recovering from the attack on her soul and Stein's minor molestation.

The man explained how the whole battle was actually a test set up by Shinigami-sama to strengthen the bonds between weapon and technician. A little collateral damage was fine though, which allowed Naruto to once again see the sadistic side of Stein as a rather creepy smirk appeared on his face. But if it was just a test…

"_Can I join in then? I'm going crazy sitting around all the time and I need some exercise._"

"_You think you can handle it with your body?_"

Naruto pointed towards his eyes with a grin. "_In sage mode? No offense but I could probably destroy you all easily in this form. After the battles I've been through…and I won't even use any ninja techniques on them. Just senjutsu._"

A trickle of smoke escaped from the researcher's lips as he exhaled out of the side of his mouth. "_Alright then. I'll get a jump start on gathering data on you and your attack style as well. We'll fight as a team then, you should fit right in with that situation. Just don't knock them around too hard…that's my job._"

"_Right!_" They broke apart as Naruto slammed a fist into his other palm, only to be stopped for a second by a hand on his shoulder.

"_By the way, the alteration of your eyes involves this senjutsu or sage mode, correct?_"

"_Yeah._"

"_Fascinating. May I cut you open after this to see how it works?_" The blonde just stared at him in disbelief before shaking his head slightly and adding a bit of force to his voice.

"_No._"

"_Eh…your loss. Alright, go after Black*Star. He's the one you called the fake ninja._"

"_Gladly._" He cracked his knuckles and pointed at the male meister who in turn pointed to himself in wonder. At Naruto's nod, he sneered and began boasting how he would defeat him before finishing off 'Screw-head' but it of course went through one of the blonde's ears and out the other. At the three-star technician's nod, the toad sage braced himself and ran at Black*Star. The boy jumped back to gain some ground and narrowly ducked underneath the haymaker sent towards his nose. He would have jeered at the miss but a sudden force connected with his face and knocked him clear across the ground towards his friends.

"W…what? But he missed!"

Black*Star grunted and grabbed his nose, popping it back into place with a sickening crack. "What did you do, you…you…CHEATER!" The boy ignored his outburst and jumped high into the air before dropping back down and aiming a heel drop at the blue-haired assassin. The boy jumped away again but with much more distance this time as Naruto's foot formed a divot in the earth. Nothing invisible slammed into the other boy this time but Naruto was back on him within a few seconds. He dropped low and swept his feet out from under him before a roundhouse kick sent B*S flying towards Stein who had merely been observing the whole time.

The smoking man caught Black*Star by the shoulders and propped him up, small bolts of soul energy crackling between his fingers as he placed a hand on both sides of the boy's head. The sudden release of Stein's soul purge technique was drowned out by the painful scream that escaped from the receiver's mouth. It went on for ten seconds as the others yelled in fear for Black*Star, and even Naruto felt like he was going too far. But as the energy finally abated and finished coursing through the male's brain, he fell back in a boneless heap with a small amount of blood dripping from the different holes in his skull.

Soul ran to his friend's side and slid to a stop on his knees, shaking the unmoving meister as he tried to rouse him. Tsubaki was shivering and sent a peek over at Naruto to try and understand why he would help out such an insane person as Franken Stein but grew perplexed at seeing his astonished stare. '_But I thought he was Stein's accomplice? Why does he seem so shocked at what just happened if he was already a part of it?_' But as her eyes dropped back onto her downed partner a few tears sprung to her eyes as she shakily covered her mouth with her hands.

"Oi, Tsubaki…I won't run away. That was the kind of man I was. Go to him." The girl looked at her former teacher and sniffed, rubbing away a stray tear but slowly nodding anyways. It didn't matter to her now if Sid booked it as soon as she released him anyways. All that mattered now was making sure that her friend and partner was still alive. With a flick of her hair, the ponytail unwound from around the zombie and softened from metal back into hair as she ran forward and stopped at his side. One hand pressed against his chest almost fearfully; there was a heartbeat. Tsubaki released the ragged breath she didn't realize she had been holding. He was still alive...

A few feet away Soul had moved back to his own technician's side after seeing how much she was still shaking. No matter how many times he called her name and tried to get her attention, she remained unresponsive as her green eyes stared unblinkingly at the smirking Stein and slightly put off Naruto.

"Dammit! Maka, I'm going to attack!"

That sure got her to answer him. "No! N-no…"

"Huh? Why not?"

"I, I-I can…see…" The wind picked up and blew against her as her focus became greater and greater. But the more she saw, the worse it became. Her eyes could now make out the souls of their two opponents and that right there caused any miniscule thoughts of fighting back evaporate like water in the desert. Stein's soul surrounded him with all the unique markings that made it his. But that wasn't the worst part. Naruto's soul projection was simply…monstrous. If Stein's was considered big, then the blonde's was even bigger. The doctor's could fill about three/fourths if placed inside of the other, and though that didn't seem too bad…to someone whose current soul size was perhaps a bit bigger than a baseball, his wavelength could overcome and engulf their own without him even caring. He could kill her on a whim.

And she was supposed to fight this wild card that wasn't even originally a part this lesson.

The male's soul was orange in coloration with the occasional flickering of red sporadically appearing. Six markings covered the front like those odd whiskers he seemed to have. Whereas Stein had stitch marks, Naruto had a large swirl that encompassed the whole large projection, starting at the very top and curving around and around until it finished at the bottom. There was even two protrusions near the top that looked like the brow ridge of an amphibian, complete with warty bumps. She couldn't understand as to why those were there, though.

"_Hey…what's she doing?_"

The meister took another puff of his still lit cigarette before answering. "_She can see our souls. For one whose soul is miniscule in comparison it's like fighting massive demon with only a blunt stick._" If Stein noticed the boy's flinch at the casual mention of fighting a demon, he never declared it.

"_Oh…I can sorta do that too but I don't know if I can without sage mode._"

"_Really? It sounds like this sage mode also boosts the potency of your wavelength, giving you skill you may not normally possess while normal. Training would warrant the same results thought, but it's only a hypothesis._"

"_Yeah, probably…hey, is she alright though?_"

"_She'll be fine._"

Maka was breathing heavily and on her hands and knees, tears and a small amount of spittle leaking from her as her mind and spirit fought against themselves. Her soul may have wished to fight and win; her mind provided the logic and showed that they were screwed terribly. And it was causing her to have a mental breakdown in the process. "It's…no good…we…can't…fight…"

"Maka! Snap out of it, dammit! Get it together already!" He grabbed her around the shoulders with an arm but she slapped it away, screaming about how he couldn't see their souls and it didn't matter anyways. Soul's hand twitched at the slight sting and he felt his anger spike.

"…what the hell does that mean? You only saw his soul, not the future!" He pulled her into a slight embrace and turned her towards the two waiting combatants. "Don't give up before we even begin the fight…we still have to collect souls and turn me into a Death Scythe. Plus, we have to stick it to your annoying father, right? Maka, look at me already!" The girl's head shook slightly before rising up and meeting his eyes with an emotionless stare. Soul only smiled back. "Besides, they seem to be alright actually. This whole time they stood there and let us talk."

The facts given, the female nodded slowly as she realized all of that was indeed true. Their future...he was going to be a Death Scythe whether he wanted to or not. Maka giggled softly and gave her partner a small smile, causing the scythe weapon to grin even wider. "Soul, I'm sorry for wasting time."

He crouched and jumped, spinning in place before landing in her hands in his black-and-red bladed form. "_It's alright. So let's finish this!_" The two of them began focusing their energies and Naruto could only watch as their two different frequencies evened out and matched with the other, granting a greater boost in power.

"SOUL RESONANCE!"

"_So their souls are synched enough to use soul resonance? Very interesting._"

"_Okay…now what's going on?_"

Stein chuckled and cracked his neck. "_Your understanding of things would be so much easier if you were to learn English, yes? Explanations would only have to happen once then. But this is what happened; Soul and Maka have matched their souls. The technician sends their wavelength into the weapon, the weapon amplifies it in turn, and the finished product is the large soul wavelength you can now see they are producing._" Naruto's mouth had taken the shape of an 'O' as he listened in, learning something new yet again about the way this world battled. When he had fired a shot with Patty, he only matched wavelengths with her and she used his own to create a bullet. But if she had instead taken his wavelength and increased it…who knows what else could have happened?

"_Oh, wow._"

"_Stay here. I'll take care of this. The extra school lesson is coming to a close._ _You'll have to find something else to exercise with then, because I don't think they can take much more and you'd overpower them._" The shinobi nodded and watched quietly as Stein strode forward without fear as Maka brandished her Witch Hunter ability. She swung forward but it was immediately halted by Stein in a unarmed blade lock that caused vibrating friction between the two combatants. Tsubaki watched in mute wonder as the two technicians clashed, hoping her friends survived in the end. Sid nodded from where he was standing, already able to foretell how the altercation was going to end. The two continued their struggle before Stein yelled and released more of his power, forcing his soul inside the phantom blade and effectively breaking the Witch Hunter wavelength while once again knocking Soul right out of Maka's hands.

As a small amount of steam hissed off his palms, the scientist with a bolt in his head stalked towards the young girl. Her energy was spent after the last resonance and all she could do was gasp for air as the stitched figure of death walked towards her. The most she could do was look up at him with half-lidded eyes as he gazed down at her from behind his glasses, she at his mercy. A hand raised up and reached towards her with what she guessed was the intent to finish the job. "Barely conscious?"

"Get away from Maka!" A flash of light showed Soul back in human form using his body to hunch over and try and protect his Kishin hunting partner. "I won't let you touch her!" The hand continued to descend as Soul closed his eyes to await the end, but instead…

The hand tousled his silvery locks?

"Congratulations. The extra lesson is over. You passed."

…

…

…

What?

"Protecting the life of your meister with your own body."

"…huh?"

"Heh…I was asked to do this by Shinigami-sama. He wanted me to take charge of this extra lesson for you and your friends."

"But you killed Black*Star!"

"Did I?"

Soul's head whipped around to see a bloody Black*Star with his head resting in Tsubaki's lap, one of her hands wiping at the red mess with a handkerchief. "…you guys…ar-are bastards…"

"He, he's alive? What about Professor Sid?" The zombie stepped forward with his hands in his pockets, a grin revealing more of his teeth than normal. The dead man shrugged and panned his head around battlefield, taking in the destruction that was caused.

"Sorry but I was in on it from the beginning. Normally I never tell lies, but that was back when I was alive."

"Then what about him?" All eyes focused on Naruto who was still waiting patiently in his spot though now he was sitting cross-legged on the ground. The blonde sighed and it was like a rush of energy flowed out from him with his breath. The orange surrounding his eyes faded and his eyes changed from gold to normal bright blue, and he swayed a bit as though the release drained him off his strength. "_Whoa…I forgot how tiring sage mode was when I stop using it…_"

Stein smirked and began cleaning his glasses, giving a rather flippant shrug of the shoulders in the process. "That, everyone, is what I like to call controlled chaos with an extra helping of invincibility. Even in training lessons such as this one you never know if the situation will follow what has been planned out. Even I wasn't expecting Naruto to show up, with a powerful boost in all aspects of his strength, but it gave you one hell of an experience didn't it? If Soul here can cause Maka to regain her confidence after seeing _his_ giant soul over there, then you really do have the makings of a great technician." The two smiled at the compliment but the ash-haired girl suddenly groaned and flopped flat onto her side.

"I still can't believe this was just a test lesson…it was all a set up…"

"Mmmm. Plus it was fun to run you brats around for a bit. So, you're all exhausted yes? Then why not spend the night here?" Maka, Soul, and Black*Star all shouted their negative answers as Tsubaki merely shook her head with an awkward smile. The question was repeated towards Naruto, who quickly shook his head and caused the others to laugh at the speed he had used to turn down the request.

The blonde approached the others and Maka recoiled slightly, causing him to blanch and quickly turn towards the crazed doctor. He mentioned something to him that caused him to shrug and Tsubaki to smile and giggle. "How come you can understand him, Tsubaki?" The curvy female gazed down at her meister with the smile still on her face.

"He speaks Japanese. My family is originally from Japan, so I learned the language."

"Huh…but I'm Japanese too and I don't know how to say or understand it."

"Just because you descend from the country doesn't mean you'll automatically comprehend the language, Black*Star." The injured boy just groaned and stuck out his tongue. Soul rolled his eyes and looked towards Stein for confirmation.

"So what did he say anyways?"

"He said he was sorry about attacking. He's been cooped up for awhile now and when he sensed our fight beginning, he decided to get out and stretch his legs. When he saw I was a part of it, that's when he intervened and I explained what was going on after taking him over to the corner. Then I just pulled him in and the rest, you all know. He didn't mean to hurt you, Black*Star."

"I'm not hurt! Just…resting. A god can't get hurt anyways!"

Naruto scratched his head and brought his hands together. They watched as he created a cross with his fingers before disappearing in a pall of smoke. When the gas dissipated, there was now five different Naruto's standing in the spot. "What…the hell?" The four students grew deathly silent at the sight, as well as Sid, though the man was able to keep his composure better than the others. Seeing it was much different than merely being told about it by your boss. Stein was grinning widely at seeing such a spectacle, wondering if the new constructs would look the same inside if he dissected them. Naruto just looked like he didn't care he had used ninjutsu, forgetting the shinigami's warning from a few days ago about laying low.

"So that's an application of chakra to give form to a ninja technique. A self-replication. Shinigami-sama never mentioned the use of hand gestures when he spoke with me…"

Two of the blonde's walked over to Tsubaki and Black*Star while another two appeared in front of Maka and Soul. The remaining Naruto spoke something to Stein again before giving a wave to everyone present and walking away. Stein whispered something to Sid, who nodded in turn and walked after the walking ninja.

The remaining adult clapped his hands once before sliding them into the pockets of his now dirty lab coat. "Okay, so…The original Naruto is walking back to Shibusen and Sid is following to report to Shinigami-sama and make sure he makes it back alright. These clones he left are to help each of you make it back to your own dwellings. They're all solid and perfect copies of himself from what he explained, so they'll be able to carry you back if you need it. He's doing this as a way to apologize for barging into your test uninvited. I suggest you all get a good night's rest. You'll feel better in the morning."

"I don't need any help!" B*S struggled to stand but after getting knocked around and electrocuted by a professional's wavelength, he could barely move. "…okay. Maybe it will be alright to allow someone beneath me such a generous opportunity." Tsubaki only shook her head at his usual arrogance but sent a warm smile towards her new blonde helpers. She was grateful for the assistance and wouldn't have enjoyed lugging her partner all the way back to their apartment.

"_Thank you for the help. My name's Tsub…Nakatsukasa Tsubaki._"

"_Uzumaki Naruto…'s clone. It's the least the Boss could do, Tsubaki-san. It's nice that you can speak Elemental too. It'd take so much longer to get you both back home if you spoke this English. So where do you live?_" The shadow weapon told him to follow and just help transport Black*Star. When one of the clones asked where he lived then, she explained that as partners they shared a home. The clone just nodded with a slightly raised eyebrow but didn't mention it all. There was nothing wrong with two teenagers of opposite sexes living together in his eyes. Especially after some of the things that used to take place back in his own time.

As they walked silently together while the two copies carried the recovering boy along, they listened to the mutterings of said boy. Tsubaki must have sensed the unasked question hanging in the air because she quickly waved her arms in denial. "_Oh, you must be thinking we're in a relationship together or doing things without any adult supervision around! No, no! We're just partners and friends!_"

"_I never said anything about that, Tsubaki-san._" the kage bunshin smirked, causing her to blush red and look away.

"_S-so, anyways…-*cough*-, um…what did you mean by speaking Elemental? Don't you mean Japanese?_"

"_Uh, yeah. I'm from…a hidden village. Things were much different there._" Well, it wasn't exactly a lie. Then the copy noticed she was poking him in the shoulder, making it look at her funny as she stopped and gave another meek smile.

"_Sorry. I've just never heard of someone with the ability to create clones of themselves. Stein-san said back there that this was a ninja technique…fascinating. My family took after the ninja code, as did Black*Star's. But all of our powers revolved around the soul._"

"_I guess you could say…I practice the ninja way that gave birth to __your__ ninja way._" The clone noticed the girl limping slightly and shared a look with its brother, who gave a curt nod. The first copy gently released his hold on the young ninja wannabe and threw one of Tsubaki's arms over its shoulder as it took the weight off of her leg. "_When did you hurt yourself? Boss or Screw-Head never fought you at all._"

The girl looked away with a small tint of red to her cheeks. "_When I rushed over to see if Black*Star was still alive, I twisted my ankle slightly._" She laughed, but it wasn't humorous. "_I did nothing during the whole entire second fight. Since I was keeping Professor Sid from running away, I couldn't fight alongside my meister. And then he was injured terribly…and all I could do was watch. And I even hurt myself without entering the battle. I don't think we'll ever gather any Kishin eggs at this rate…_"

As she hung her head, the clones sighed in unison. They didn't know her story but she seemed like a nice girl who was currently stuck in a rut. "_Don't be so hard on yourself. What if I were to tell you that the Boss was once the worst in his class, always failing everything and being made fun of because of his low grades?_" Quite a humorous sight, seeing her jaw drop so quickly.

"_But he was amazing out there! He could have probably defeated Stein-san if the fight had been between only the two of them!_"

"Oh,_ he would have...likely. And all the Boss was using was taijutsu. If he had decided to throw in anything else besides punches and kicks then things would have been decided a lot quicker._" Tsubaki had grown thoughtful, brushing a strand of hair away from her eyes as she absorbed the blonde's words. He was really that powerful after being nearly a dropout?

"_How did he do it?_" she asked quietly. Clone 1 only grinned as Clone 2 chuckled, shifting the now dozing Black*Star on his back before grimacing at the string of drool dripping onto its shoulder.

"_By never giving up no matter what he had to deal with. People called him the most unpredictable ninja around, and time after time he proved their opinions of him were just plain wrong. Oh right…and lots of training. Like, so much you'd probably explode if you went through the same thing._"

"_Can't forget the training._" The other copy agreed.

The group climbed a set of stairs, having turned into a small complex filled with identical doors. The female weapon pointed towards one near the middle. They stopped to let Tsubaki unlock the apartment, and once inside she directed Clone 2 towards B*S's room. "_Just put him to bed, please._"

"_And what about you?_" She took a tentative step forward, hissing slightly as her ankle stung but she could still walk without assistance.

"_I'll be fine. A good wrap will keep it braced so it can heal. Thank you for your assistance._" Both clones nodded and prepared to dispel but a small noise from the lone female gave them reason to pause. "_Will you tell the original Naruto he has my thanks as well for making sure we arrived home safely?_"

"_Of course. Hell, you can go tell him yourself if you want sometime. He's staying at the big school's hospital room for now until the creepy doctor says he's good to go. Take care of yourself, Tsubaki-san._" Both clones waved as Tsubaki bowed, reflecting the upbringing she had received in her life. But as she moved to close the door once the two blonde's had left, to her surprise they merely winked out of existence with only a puff of smoke to mark their location.

"Wow…"

She moved off after locking the front door and fanning away the small smokescreen. Stripping out of her dirty clothes, she proceeded with a wince every other step to the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her figure. Her ponytail was looped up to keep it out of the way as the warm bath water embraced her weary muscles and throbbing ankle, sinking down with a content sigh as the water level rose up to below her nose. What a day…

Getting beat up by their ex-teacher, followed by the man that altered said teacher. Then a blonde enigma who apparently is an actual ninja or one who knows the specific job class much better than someone like her or Black*Star. The steam coasting off the water made her groan in appreciation and stretch out her legs. Perhaps she could speak more with the boy at another date? The real one this time, not a copy he had created.

Rivulets of liquid coasted down her body as she finished bathing and stood up, noting her ankle felt better although there was still swelling. Some ice would do the trick. But for now, all she was looking forward to was a nice rest after a tough day.

**Fifteen minutes prior**

The walk between the two Naruto's, Maka, and Soul was a relatively quiet one. Compared to the other meister/weapon duo, the two teens lived farther west and they all moved down a different path from Tsubaki and Black*Star. The ashen-haired girl was exhausted, having used most of her energy from the two fights as well as two separate soul resonances. Though unlike her fellow technician, she was still coherent.

Maka occasionally spoke a few words that Naruto could understand. The petite girl was on Soul's back as she continued directing the group in their travel. The scythe remained silent throughout the journey because, well, he really had nothing to say at this point and two of them were non-English. The clones merely acted as escorts for the time being until they were certain the two tired students were back home.

Before they knew it, the two blondes had gotten Soul and Maka back to their apartment and into their rooms. Soul went to see them out, fidgeting in the door way with his hands in his pockets before he coughed awkwardly. "So…thanks for bringing us back…nice to meet you, or something…so. Bye." He gave them both a wave which was the only part they understood, but before another voice called out that was significantly different than Maka's.

"Soooooul! Are you two finally back? What took you so long?" It was then the copied existences of Uzumaki Naruto caught sight of something that would have made Jiraiya explode into a shower of perverted nose-blood. A woman clad in nothing more than a fluffy towel, with her large assets and curves barely hidden away. Purple hair dropped down to her shoulders with two large curls around her ears…except she had no human ears, instead having a set of purple-tipped cat ears resting on top of her head that melded with her hair. Her golden eyes were filled with mischief even as she noticed the two other guests standing within the abode, small droplets of water still clinging to her pale skin as her smirk grew. Apparently, this was one woman who was not modest in the least.

"Oh…hey Blair…uh, yeah. We're back. Don't worry about these two…they don't speak English and needed to get going anyways." The weapon was looking right at her with an air of indifference but the small crimson leak from both nostrils begged to differ. Naruto 1 and Naruto 2 were both finding interest in the different knickknacks strewn about the living room, sporting twin blushes on their faces because of the woman.

"But they're so cute! Are they twins? They even have whiskers marks! Maybe they're some sort of kitty like me?" Unable to contain herself any longer, the magical feline stretched her arms forward, inadvertently loosening her towel and dropping it to the floor. Then, to make it even crazier, the uninhibited woman leapt forward and latched onto one of the clones, smashing him in between her breasts. Not two seconds later, the over-stimulation caused the blonde to pop. And not in the way Soul or Blair were expecting.

A slight gust of air caused her to shiver as she found herself encompassed by a small cloud of smoke that just so conveniently covered her nipples at the moment. The final remaining kage bunshin nodded to Soul once before anything else could happen to it, dispelling to suffer the same fate as its brother. But one thought rested in its temporary mind as it ceased to exist. '_What a way to go!_'

"Soul…what's going on out there?" Maka called sleepily, opening her door to reveal she had already changed for the night into her pajamas. She'd clean up in the morning when she wasn't so tired. But the sight in front of the young female caused her weariness to be replaced instantly with a dark fury. Blair, on her knees in front of Soul, oddly covered in a bit of smoke as the boy's hands were on the cat woman's shoulders as he had moved to help her up. A large, thickly spined novel slid down her arm and into her waiting palm as if by magic, giving the poor weapon reason to swallow the heavy lump that had formed in his throat.

"This is so not cool…"

"MAKA CHOP!"

Standing just outside of the infirmary doors, the original Naruto stopped as four separate viewpoints flashed into his mind. He quickly entered and slipped into his bed while sorting through the different memories and gleaning what information he could from them. Not much from Maka or Soul, and Black*Star had been totally unresponsive…but this Tsubaki girl seemed nice enough. Rather soft spoken but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. And that Blair…wow. Maybe she was Anko reincarnated or something.

He slapped his temples as an afterthought. Since when did he start thinking like his teacher? Maybe it was an after-effect of being sealed for so long, which included his hormones. Or maybe he was just acting like a regular guy for once. Whatever. He'd think more about it tomorrow. For now he supposed he'd get some sleep.

As the ancient shinobi rolled over to find a comfortable position, he never did realize that the hole he had created was already sealed up without a crack. And that a pair of ominous golden-slitted eyes were watching him from the darkened corner in unveiled curiosity and want. But what the eyes wanted him for, he wouldn't know until much later on.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Oh…I can't believe we were tardy…"

"I don't see why it matters. We were late anyways but the teacher's not even here yet! I wanted to show them up!"

"I had a nightmare that the doctor was operating on me while that Naruto guy just stood there and watched!"

"Tsubaki, Black*Star. How are you two feeling? That was a hell of a test yesterday, wasn't it?"

The four Shibusen students sat at their seats in the elevated row, waiting for when their shortened E.A.T. classes would begin for the day. Compared to the N.O.T. course, they were more focused on action and lessons with only a relative amount of studying. But that still didn't mean their class theory was any less important.

All four of them had slept through their alarms and rushed to make it to class, but even then it appeared they were in the clear. Tsubaki had wanted to stop by early and say good morning to her newest acquaintance but it seemed that would have to wait until their lessons were over. But then again, it would give them more time to speak. He was very intriguing and she was probably the only one who could understand him fluently out of the four friends.

Maka was hiding her face in her arms, possibly reimagining her night terror. Soul gave her a few pats on the back in comfort to try and cheer her up. "So I guess we're getting a new teacher then. Sid would've been here already. Hey, what if it's your dad again, Maka?"

"Don't even joke about that." she growled out from her folded limbs getting him to snicker. The slight ting of metal on wood met everyone's ears as something heavy impacted with the door jamb at a rather moderate speed. An adult male flipped inside, office chair and all, skidding across the floor in a rapid spin before coming to a halt right in the center of the floor while facing the students. Maka and Soul felt worry and shock spread throughout their bodies as the figure casually flipped open a textbook while lying prone on his back. Tsubaki was silent but with a hint of worry on her features as her partner 'tsked' and looked on with a frown.

"Okay! Let's start the lesson, everyone! Today…we'll be dissecting a frog." Stein announced, not even bother to right himself after the spill. The end of class couldn't have come any quicker than it eventually did.

The scythe meister Maka never thought there would be a day in class where she wished her father was teaching.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_A/N: And here's chapter two. I guess I should mention, or actually __**reiterate. **__This is not a rewrite of A Different Kind of Soul. That story only inspired this one with the 'Naruto sealed away' idea. That's pretty much it. Just wanted to (re)let you all know._

_So according to the poll, it seems you really want Naruto to be paired up with a female weapon. I forgot to add this in the poll's wording so I'll let you all know here; just because the weapon will more than likely be a girl, doesn't mean she and Naruto will be paired together. And I've thought out a weapon form, name, and possible look. So, woo. _


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Soul Eater…that's it.

Chapter 3:

"_And here we are. Your new home for the indefinite future._"

With arms held wide, Stein stood with his legs held far apart dramatically as the end of his lab coat billowed in the sudden powerful breeze. In front of the mentally unstable doctor loomed a massive, mansion-like building with obvious signs of reaper architecture worked into its design. It was two stories tall and crafted from a varied mixture of dim stone and dark wood to fit in with the continuous theme of death. Surrounding it was a small copse of trees that seemed to be thriving quite well despite the fact Death City rested in the middle of a fricking desert. Poor Sunagakure had nothing on this massive oasis.

Stein's fingers twitched as he continued to wait for recognition.

The silence was deafening.

"_...uh, yeah. Whoopee._"

"…_you're a bit of a downer._" From behind the mad scientist, a shock of blond bobbed forward with a slow gait until it slouched directly next to the doctor . Naruto, looking _much_ healthier than when he was first retrieved from the inside of the scroll, gave a deadpanned look towards his tour guide before shaking his head dismissively. Finally out of Medusa's stifling hospital ward and the poor ex-jinchuriki was immediately tagged with a warden. And out of everyone, it had to be the one who had a few screws loose (pun possibly intended).

"_Why couldn't I be with Spirit or even Sid? At least I know how to handle a full-grown pervert. But you? A chain-smoking, deranged psychopath? I feel like I constantly have to look over my shoulder to make sure I'm still in one piece._" Stein finally realized the teenager wasn't going to play along and dropped his arms to the side, lips in a neutral line as sharp eyes focused on nothing in particular. Lost in thought a pale finger rose to slowly trace one of the stitches along his cheek.

"_You're too tense._ _Medusa mentioned you need to continue relaxing for the time being since you're still in the recovery stage._"

Naruto's orbs narrowed in conjunction with his lips pursing in annoyance. Ever since that night where he and Stein teamed up to slap around a bunch of kids he had been anything but relaxed. It only took an extra week for the ninja to gain back his healthy tan complexion and proper muscle tone which, due to prior experience with being grounded to a hospital bed, meant he could _finally _get back on the wagon. Ergo, there was more than one occasion where the pretty blonde nurse walked in to discover her patient working out like it was going out of style. His English had grown through forced study but it was still easier to use what he already knew. The strangest part to it all was there was a few times when he wasn't alone in the room; Black*Star would be right alongside Naruto trying to match his tempo while a quiet Tsubaki timidly watched the blatant pissing contest.

He gained himself an unwanted rival that day at Stein's house. The Uzumaki now knew what it was like to be on the other side of his thirteen-year old self thanks to the blue-haired boy's inane presence. In a retrospective sense it was almost like he had a rabid Konohamaru hounding him again trying to better himself. Iruka-sensei was a saint. How that poor bastard never truly lost his mind from the younger Naruto's constant pranks and agitation was a true wonder.

Stuffing his hands inside the baggy orange zip-up hoody he now wore to replace his old jacket, the whiskered male followed Franken Stein through the ornate wooden door to the interior of the dormitory. His old uniform was beyond repair; the loose blue jeans, black t-shirt, and somewhat uncomfortable shoes made up his new basic outfit. Liz made sure she was a part of that experience…let's just say once both Thompson Sisters pinned his arms to the side, the surprisingly strong girls were able to lift him and literally carry him around so he couldn't escape. And escape he tried. How Patty sniffed him out like a bloodhound before tackling him to the ground every single time he got away was rather amazing. At least Death himself paid for the new duds and other basic items Naruto needed to function. Everything else he'd eventually have to pay for personally.

The mild scent of fresh wood assaulted his nostrils as soon as his foot was through the door.

It was…surprisingly mellow inside the building. From what the blond could see of the lobby, the male dormitories looked more like it belonged in some fancy-pants mansion instead of a place to house teenagers. Comfortable handcrafted furniture and muted color schemes met his vision everywhere he looked. Way nicer than his old apartment or any hotel he ever bunked at back in the day. And he'd be sleeping here? Maybe it wouldn't be as bad as Naruto originally thought.

"_As you noticed, there are two floors to the building. The floors are split with the two lowest grades on the bottom juniors and seniors the next floor up. You're a bit of an enigma so although you've said your age is around sixteen, you'll be grouped in with the younger first-years. The bottom level also holds the superintendent's office along with maintenance._" Motioning for Naruto to follow with the crook of a finger, the grey-haired meister began leading him through the halls. Occasionally they would pass other boys who regarded Naruto with curious expressions but nodded politely all the same. A few even remembered the teen from when Maka's father wheeled him through the school hallways. It was a weird time to transfer in but these sort of situations still happened occasionally.

"_So who's the superintendent?_"

"_Sid._" Stein replied with light humor. The ninja at his side felt himself frowning, not because he didn't like the odd zombie man, but because he really felt as though he should have expected that. The Death Weapon Meister Academy was quite huge and yet Naruto only saw about three instructors in attendance so far. Could so few teachers really keep such an illustrious (as he had heard) establishment cranking out warriors like they were known to do?

"_What doesn't he do?_"

Stein shrugged in a bored fashion before dropping a hand upon Naruto's shoulder and steering him in front of a door similar to every other one in sight. It was labeled '1-9'. Ironic? Probably not. Death had himself a weird sense of humor. The door opened with a soft click, allowing the pair to walk inside. There were three beds spaced evenly through the somewhat large room, each with their own small desk and dresser. The rest was bare though and showed no signs of anyone else living inside. "_And this is your room. You actually got off lucky; this year there was a smaller amount of freshman than we usually receive and they've already been assigned their rooms. So we just stuck you in one of the empty ones._" Stein dropped into one of the bedroom's chairs and pointed towards a door off to the side. "_That's the room's personal bathroom. Laundry is also bottom floor. Your belongings will be delivered soon. As for food, you'd have to go to the school cafeteria or find a place to eat out at. And before I forget…_"

A small manila rectangle was extracted from the male's deep pockets and thrown towards Naruto. He easily caught the packet but stared at its slight bulge curiously, wondering what the hell it was and why it was so important. "_And this is?_"

"_Your weekly allowance. As your simple mind will hopefully understand, you get it every Monday. You want any extra, well, the school posts part-time jobs for those in the NOT classes._"

Naruto stared at him blankly.

"_The course you're now enrolled in._"

Still nothing.

"_Oh boy…no one explained. Okay, you remember how Maka and the others are allowed to go around and hunt for Kishin eggs?_" Naruto's nod was slow. He _did_ remember Liz, Kid, and Black*Star talking about missions they went on for bad souls which he guessed was these 'eggs'. "_Good. Those are the EAT classes, or Especially Advanced Talent. About ten percent make it into the advanced class where they learn to combat evil. The rest fall into the NOT category, or Normally Overcome Target. The students there take over the non-combat roles such as support or management. They still find themselves a partner and learn to fight but, in essence, they are considered backup. Being a weapon or meister is dangerous if left untrained._"

The lecture, even as Stein began rummaging around for one of his smokes, caused the wayward ninja to straighten up from where he wandered next to the bed closest to the door. Non-combat roles? Fuck that! "_I don't get to fight? But that's all I know how to do!_"

"_So we've heard. As long as you find yourself a compatible partner or test out while still searching, then you'll be in the clear. Your record already has high marks due to the incident with Death the Kid's weapon partner as well as your intrusion into the make-up lessons. Your wavelength is very flexible despite its size. Just like mine._" Stein chuckled a bit, popping the end of one of his cigarettes into his mouth. "_Lucky you._"

"_Just something I learned to do from a missing friend. Sharing energy was a handy trick._"

"_That's the basis of the weapon-technician partnership. Your wavelengths echo on a base level which by itself wouldn't cause any damage. There may be some friction or discomfort but that's it. But to go beyond that, and more than likely if the two people with incompatible wavelengths tried to force their souls to resonate then they could both be mortally hurt. You're lucky there was no actual damage when you fired that demon pistol._" The blond had partially tuned out at that point, idly flipping through the paper bills and counting the amount. Two hundred dollars if he got the numbers written on the paper right. He guessed that was a normal amount or something…dang weird non-ryou currency. Stein continued to watch him dryly before the teen finally pocketed the money and nodded his head.

"_Yeah I know. I didn't exactly know what I was doing and it made Patty sore afterwards._"

"_All the more reason to get your butt to class._" Oh…that was a doozy of an innuendo if Stein had ever heard one. And Naruto didn't even realize. He'd be saving that one up for later. A quick glance at the watch at his wrist showed Stein their time was growing short, " _We need to get going. Since there's still a language barrier, which you really need to work on more, you get to have your own personal translator for the day._" He raised his hands in front of his chest and slowly waved them back and forth in celebration. "_Yay_."

"_I want Spirit!_"

"_Awww what? You don't like my company?_"

"_You'd be fine if you didn't have that whole 'dissecting' thing. Oh. And you have a big ass screw in your head. I don't know whether or not to think it's freaky or cool._"

**CLICK CLICK CLICK**

The sutured professor spun said item with a few good flicks of his wrist, more than likely to spite the shinobi who was eyeing the screw warily. Before long the duo were walking the paved stone streets towards the large, garish school. The only way to get there was climbing an incredibly high number of stairs to reach the building resting at the highest point in the entire city. The top of the plateau gave an incredible view of the entire metropolis, spanning the entire length and reminding Naruto of the observation from the Hokage Monument. He noticed plenty of students huffing and puffing as they crawled to the summit; he wasn't even winded now that his strength was back.

On another note, Naruto now had a new idea for exercise.

Trying to remember the placement of rooms from memory, more often than not the Uzumaki found himself having to rely on his escort's knowledge of Shibusen to get him on the right course. It was a pretty big place and there were lots of twists and turns if you weren't careful. Thankfully the class he was searching for was easy to find once the path was made clear and Stein had him wait while he went off to find Spirit Albarn. Since the inauguration for the newest students already passed, both the already inducted freshman and older returnees of NOT were placed in the same room. The area gave off a pleasant aura as everyone conversed and waited for the day to start. But now the blond was without his linguistic safety net… shit.

He hadn't felt this awkward around others in quite some time. The cliques were already formed and Naruto found himself standing casually next to the door, watching the groups chatter and occasionally peek in his direction. Yes, yes. He was a stranger. Don't make it any more obvious by talking about him like he wasn't there. Keen blue eyes were able to notice the subtle markings of those who had partnered up already; the way they interacted with the other through speech or motions, or the involuntary closeness of their bodies.

He remembered that camaraderie well…because after all, to Uzumaki Naruto it had only been weeks since he had been involved in a massive war that altered reality and spanned the united nations. People he knew, people he didn't know; forced together as allies against a common enemy where not long before that they were all involved in an unsteady ceasefire. Before his very eyes Naruto saw the changes take place in the amassed shinobis' demeanors. And he as one of the last free jinchuriki had been part of the catalyst to do so.

Like the relic he was, the blond felt very out of place there in the future.

Thankfully…things went by quicker than he would have thought.

It started when a couple of returning students decided they didn't like his appearance. Naturally, Naruto disregarded their taunts because it would have been a crime how easily he could beat them. The situation escalated until a fight nearly broke out between the blond, his opponent, and the other's meister partner. It was justified, in a way; Naruto broke the other kid's nose with a well placed forehead. In the shinobi's defense the delinquent pulled back his hand and formed it into a fist after grabbing the former container's shirt. Still, it was the sight of a battle-ready Naruto facing off against another student holding a half-transformed sword that Sid stumbled upon as the zombie finally walked through the door.

Things quickly settled down after that.

To think, the only reprimand he got was to have an instructor present next time. Otherwise, fighting was prohibited in the school. How lax. And yet how _awesome_. Way better than his old academy ever was. Once ol' busted nose lumbered off to Medusa for aid in fixing his new facial rearrangement, the class settled down enough for the undead man to begin for the day. There was still the problem of Narutonot having his supposed linguistic person to count on. Sid received a note from his fellow instructor that Spirit was off campus and wasting time at a local cabaret club, Chupa*Cabra's, since it was technically a day off for him and that it would take too long for the Death Scythe to return. Stein was busy with teaching his own class to just drop it and come back so the end of the note essentially ordered Naruto to stop being an idiot and use what he learned.

Luckily there were a few natives from Asia among the ranks to help translate the day's instructions though. He might have some skill in speaking but the written word was still alien.

Naruto's task was to find himself an associate amid those who had yet to partner up. If that failed, there was some sort of lot drawing thing he could check out. It seemed similar to speed dating but, you know, without the expected intimacy even thought it was a possibility. But as Sid allowed his NOT students out early compared to those in EAT, all the whiskered blond could think about was _leaving_. That thought was complimented by the teen cracking his back and sighing happily. Lessons were lessons, and he would always choose the freedom outside compared to studying.

"_Oh geez! Finally!_" He heard a few giggles from those in the makeshift group that could actually discern his foreign speech. Three girls…who'd a thunk it? Not the one who seemed (in his mind) to repel the opposite gender. Except for a few times though…ah, and those were some good times. "_Do we really just stand around the whole time?_"

"_Well…no?_" a black-haired girl responded shyly. She was one of the few able to speak Naruto's home language, a petite female with short bangs and a set of pigtails on her head similar to Maka. Harudori Tsugumi, despite her average looks, younger age, and inexperienced mannerisms, housed the form of a demon weapon within her still-developing body and standard black uniform. A _halberd_ as Naruto discovered when she originally transformed. Although the edges weren't sharp…and she seemed way too nervous in stressful situations…but her innocent and nervous charm instantly had the misplaced jinchuriki calling her a friend.

The second was a happy-go-lucky brunette with a small tuft of her chin-length hair tied up by a ribbon to the left of her scalp. It took a few tries for Naruto to learn her name was Tatane Meme, seeing as the pleasant teenager had the memory of a goldfish. She forgot class was over, she didn't realize Naruto was speaking another language until she answered him back with a related dialect, and the poor thing had to ask the blond several times who he was before the name finally registered somewhere in her recesses of her brain. Maybe all her mental capabilities had been used instead for the stuffing inside her well-endowed chest that seemed out of place on a fourteen-year old. Even the baggy sweater, dress shirt, and pleated skirt did nothing to hide the curves settled underneath.

It was kinda hard _not _to notice when Tsugumi glanced at the meister's breasts in wistful jealousy.

Oh but here was the zinger! Meme wasn't the only weapon technician in the little group; the last of the trio held that title as well. Anya Hepburn, the only one out of all of them that wasn't born in the Far East. The skinny dull-blonde female in the fancy white dress had the air of aristocracy about her, with a personality marking her as a snobbish, proud princess. She was one of _those_ types, with their upper-class outlook on life and tactfully formal bluntness. Naruto automatically felt as though he should hate her simply for being the polar opposite of himself but catching glimpses of the curious, naïve girl in search of those she could call friends helped him give her a chance. It instantly reminded the ninja of Shion from Demon Country, except she sported blue eyes instead of purple and a slim body type instead of those curves he could remember.

Bah…

Ah…he was drifting off into his former life again…

*snort* What the hell? He was acting like guilt-laden survivor.

"_Well whatever, I'm out. See you all tomorrow._"

"_Naruto-san! Aren't you going to try looking for a partner?_"

Naruto's eyes scanned the entirety of the room before shrugging, the cloth of his shoulders rustling by the motion. "_Just did. Didn't see any. I'll take my chances with the lotto or whatever it was called._"

"_Oh…_" Tsugumi responded softly, her cheeks growing uncomfortably pink in the aftermath of her question. Everyone was pretty much in a team by now; her question was more out of shock that he just wanted to up and leave without showing any hint of excitement for being there. Seeing the ravenette shuffle in her place, Meme's airheaded gaze, and Anya's look of (forced) detachment sent Naruto scratching at his neck while he tried to gather his thoughts.

"_Remember, I'm a special case. I already know how to fight. I'm just here because I owe Shinigami-sama. He enrolled me himself, and it's not like I had anywhere else to go…so here I am. If I find someone, yay. If not, oh well._"

The girls immediately believed the Uzumaki to be a homeless street tough that the Reaper took pity on. Each of their looks softened in different degrees; Meme and Tsugumi feeling sadness at the unfortunate male whereas Anya sniffed in dismissal, the only one not understanding his words but figured it to be something negative. It was like those two punk girls they all met around a year ago near the beginning of their freshman semester. Who were they again?...ah dang, the names escaped those three after the time apart. All any of them could remember was that the pair were sisters and could transform into guns.

"_Say do either of you know where Stein's classroom is? Ah, he's this really freaky guy with stitches all over his body and-_"

"-_a screw in his head_." two of the three finished. Even Meme couldn't forget the man who looked as if he were straight out of a retro horror film. The developed meister was even the one to first lead the charge out into the hallway before taking ten steps, looking around, and asking where they were going. Bless her heart, but Naruto had to wonder how the girl functioned from day to day for fourteen (going on fifteen) years. Only Tsugumi's insistence that they were to guide the whiskered boy towards one of the EAT classrooms did Meme nod along.

With a disgruntled tumble to her mouth, Anya strolled past the lost brunette and gave an elegant swipe of her hand to motion for the shinobi to follow her. She had been left out for most of the conversation; it was her turn for once to at least do something, and do it _right_. These peasants would be lost without her…well, just the male was who she really felt that way about…Anya was too proud to act like she was ultimately genial. Sure, she mellowed out in her time here amongst the 'commoners' but old habits were hard to kill. Luckily the other two girls already knew they were all the best of friends and that made things so much simpler. Even in a grouping with two miesters to one weapon.

They went down a flight of stairs, then up one, and so on…Naruto could have sworn they moved in a circle a few times before passing the _same _row of classrooms he was actually familiar with despite being on a different floor. What was this witchcraft? Was there some sort of special sense that allowed students to traverse the school without becoming lost? The blond had a feeling he was being bullshitted.

"Here we are." Anya announced haughtily, hips spread and hands placed proudly against her thin waist. Then she pointed at it while staring at Naruto with a victorious quirk to her lips. So wait, this was it? It looked like any other door in this massive place. The blonde princess led them all on a crazy chase through Shibusen, and yet she seemed sure this was the destination. So the ninja tilted his head questioningly and mimicked her by pointing towards the classroom.

Anya nodded.

Naruto gave her a skeptical look.

The meister bit her lip and stared back in annoyance.

Alright already, geez. With a quick glance towards the two other members of their group who, up until this point, had quietly chatted together in the background, Naruto strolled forward with his hands in his pockets and lazily stood in front of the closed wooden object. So Stein was in here, eh? And was really considered sane enough to teach young minds? Yeah, okay. And Naruto was a genius. Although…he was either boring or scaring the crap out of them. Either/or. It was going to be a lot of crap.

And then a thought struck him; oh, it had been so long since his last attempt. His resources were limited though. He'd have to do this with the basics. Licking his lips, the former jinchuriki began to laugh. It was not a benign laughter. It was the kind that was accompanied by the rubbing of hands one would see a classic movie villain pull out when plotting his dastardly plan. The trio jumped slightly when he suddenly spun on his heel and crooked a finger enticingly.

"_Hey girls…I need your help for a bit longer…_"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"And with an extra incision here, we're allowed an unobstructed view of the un-ruptured stomach."

Stein's hands were magic as the scalpel in his pale hands sliced through preserved tissue and dead muscle of the carcass on top of his desk. The room's construction placed his personal table close to the center of said area with the exit to his left; the student seats were a raised half-circle dais with multiple levels to allow each and every one to see what he was doing. How convenient for the task at hand. Where the mad doctor found a fully grown California Condor too, no one had the nerve to actually ask. Despite the oddity of him cutting open such a rare species, barely any of the students saw it as something new. About half of their lessons involved studying the inside anatomy of creatures instead of the actual know-how involved with combating evil. When one boy complained about the curriculum, Stein mentioned how he was taking applications for new human experiments. The grievance was quickly retracted.

And yet, Maka's pencil was on fire as she continued to jot down detailed notes.

Hey…it could still somehow wind up on the test.

"Hey, Soul…" The pigtailed meister nibbled anxiously on the pink eraser of her writing utensil as she reread her notes. Something had been gnawing at her thoughts since the day Professor Stein first put them through their paces after their assault on his mismatched house. The young genius had wracked her brain for an answer and scoured the libraries but in the end the young female always came up short. "Have you ever heard of 'senjutsu'? A simpler term would be calling it a 'sage' ability."

The white-haired scythe was currently trying to memorize the backsides of his eyelids but Maka's question had him slowly stir with a soft sigh. He was lucky she hadn't woken him with a less genial approach due to not paying attention. It was at least cordial to give her a response, he guessed. "Nope."

"Arg! It's driving me crazy! I've heard of sages but never anything like this!"

"Calm down." he muttered, rubbing a finger underneath the fabric of his headband. "It's not cool to get so worked up. You've asked me that question like fifty times already in case you forgot and if you keep shouting we'll probably get drafted as assistants for the next dissection."

"That's because I don't understand! This boy comes out of nowhere looking like he escaped a hospital or mental institution. He can only speak Japanese. And don't even get me started on that monster of a soul he possessed." Maka quickly flipped her notebook into an upright position, using the paper as a visual shield while leaning towards her partner. The petite girl's fingers were taut against the book as she hissed at him quietly. She failed to mention that even though he could have engulfed them all with the might of his soul alone, it made the teenager kinda angry, jealous, and incredibly curious to know more about how his power seemed so developed already.

"So ask a teacher about the one odd word you could understand."

"I don't want to waste Lord Death's time and there's no way I want to ask Professor Stein. I'm not sure Professor Sid would know anyways."

"Then try somebody else, I don't know!"

"Like who?"

"Your dad?"

"That's not even funny. Pick again."

"Well…" Bright red eyes quickly scanned the room to find himself an out. Just something to direct his friend's attention and get her to back the hell off. Oh, he considered Maka a great partner and buddy despite their constant bickering and contrasting personalities. She was even sorta cute…if you could get past the neurotic bossiness and sadly underdeveloped figure. But considering he was the closest person to her at the moment, that made Soul the target of her discussion about the 'mysterious blond'.

Maka was growing impatient with his lack of an answer. "Well, what?" she growled.

"Uhhhh Tsubaki! Yeah! She could understand him perfectly, remember? And after he did that weird body split thing I bet they talked all the way back to their apartment."

"Of course! How could I forget that?"

'_Probably because you were barely lucid after the fight._'

Maka quickly shot a look toward the upper right area behind her back. Both Tsubaki and Black*Star were situated on the next level of the seating arrangement, doing their best to pay attention as the instructor cut apart a large animal like it was no big deal. When the beautiful young kunoichi felt a pair of inquisitive (and possibly hungry) green eyes focused up her she quickly used her senses to hone in on the feeling. Noticing it was Maka, the dark-haired demon weapon smiled warmly with an innocent nature down at her younger friend.

Maka's eyes were gleaming.

A low bead of sweat gathered under her bangs and threatened to fall past her violent irises. Tsubaki suddenly didn't feel it was such a good idea to be in the same room as her for awhile. Shrinking back into her seat, her large bust grazed the aged wood of her desk as the girl ducked down in worry. "What's up, Tsubaki?" Black*Star questioned upon noticing his partner acting oddly out of character. It was so concerning he stopped daydreaming about how he would spread his greatness after class ended.

"Um…no, it's nothing." Tsubaki shook her head, causing her long ponytail to bounce around.

"Oh okay."

Well thank god for his short attention span.

**KNOCK KNOCK**

And thank god for the sudden intrusion that drew everyone's attention towards the door. Even Maka had broken her line of sight to see what was happening. "Now I wonder who that could be?" Spinning the small stainless steel blade like it was a baton against his palm, Stein snapped it into the top of his desk where it quivered with a dull 'thunk' sound. Long legs pushed against the floor, spurring his rolly chair into action. Small wheels squeaked as they were forced to turn up until the adult finally reached the door and brought it to a halt. And just like that he pulled it open.

Whoever was there was just out of sight. Not even the students farthest away from the door could see although it granted them the best sight unobstructed by a wall or door frame. "Who is it?" one of the many learners asked. Stein remained seated in the entrance with his upper body leaning against the chair's back before the man groaned and shook his head.

"Seriously?"

**TWANG**

The sharp snap of a stretched rope was quickly followed by Stein leaning back faster than anyone could have guessed, losing his balance despite being seated and falling harshly with his back against the floor. The pie launched from the mini-catapult sailed harmlessly over his reclining form. Instead of finding its mark, the pastry hit the far wall with a wet noise before gravity took over and slowly slid to the bottom.

Stein merely sighed again.

Then he saw something on the ceiling due to his prone angle; Naruto hanging upside down, clothes drooping off his body because of his topsy-turvy posture. He was so high up no one else thought to look there. How did he get in? Tricky little bastard. And in his hands was Stein's scalpel…somehow. The blond noticed where the spectacle-clad doctor was staring and childishly waggled the metallic blade with a grin. The scientist righted himself along with his seat, laying his arms on the backrest to continue looking at him with a bored look.

"_Is there a reason you're interrupting my class?_"

"_Just wanted to mess with you a bit._"

"_That is an unwise mistake._"

The rest of the class was confused as to who the teacher was talking to, with some of them actually understanding the budding conversation, as all eyes turned upward to follow the sound of the new voice. Somebody screamed. It sounded like a girl. It might have been Black*Star. After all, once he set his sights on the gravity-defying blond he promptly stood, slammed his heavy boot on the desk, leaned forward, pointed, and let loose.

"AH IT'S YOU!" Tsubaki had to suffer through the screech, hands flying to shield her ears from the worse of the blast. He acted like it was a rare possibility when just the other day the short technician had engaged him in yet another challenge. Some others shouted out when the crazy new kid fell, only to grab their chests in fright when he suddenly twisted in his descent and landed on his feet without any difficulties like it was no big deal. It was actually pretty cool if you could get past the whole 'how'd he do that' and 'I thought he was gonna die'.

Naruto suddenly realized four of his newest acquaintances were in the classroom (thanks to the blue-haired kid's mouth) and smiled. He would have sat on the teacher's desk but, y'know, it was covered in a dead animal carcass. "_My class is over and I felt like visiting. Then again I felt like I needed to get you back for just dropping me off with a bunch of people I don't know and telling me to have at it._" The ninja suddenly pouted, stretching the markings on his cheeks. "_You owe me a pie._"

"_No._"

"_Your loss._"

"_Where did you get a pie anyways? Or for that matter, where the hell did you find a catapult?_"

Placing the scalpel back on the table, Naruto crossed his arms and grinned. Stein felt a tapping at his shoulder and when he turned, the last thing he saw was yet another cream-covered food item fill his vision before everything went completely dark and lemon-scented. Silence filled the room as the teenagers gaped, not only at the fact someone just rammed a pie into the older meister's face but because the culprit was a _second _Naruto. The two laughed before suddenly racing towards each other and starting up a ridiculously over-complicated victory slap that finally ended with the pair headbutting each other. The copy vanished upon taking the hit, leaving behind the original to gingerly rub at now tender skin.

Stein slowly wiped the dessert from his face, using a cloth to remove the stuff from his glasses while occasionally licking at the food caked at his mouth. Even smeared it still tasted pretty good. That didn't mean Naruto wasn't going to die though. "Class…get ready for a new subject. The utter dissection and study of an ancient species. Maybe we'll even get to see what makes him tick." A litany of fresh, gleaming scalpels slid out of the sleeves of his medical coat and in between his fingers, holding them in a way that resembled the throwing stance for kunai and shuriken. Naruto slowly backed up with his hands held up defensively.

"_Hey…c'mon. That's not fair. I just hit you with a pie._"

"_And now I'm going to hit you with a bunch of pointy objects._"

The condor was quickly buffeted as a multitude of scalpels pierced its unmoving body when the misplaced shinobi replaced himself with the corpse. Slapping the stolen medical knife down he booked it for the window, leapfrogging over the shocked students until he was at the barrier. By now Tsugumi, Meme, and Anya all had their heads poking in, having watched the entire thing in awe. Their new companion was a superhero? No one else could do the things he just did!

Spinning on his heel Naruto pushed open the frame and laughed nervously at Stein who was watching him like a predator. Note to self; take the man off your prank list if you want to keep living. Placing one sole on the sill he gave off a quick bow with added flourish before doing his best to appear calm. "_Nice one! But you'll always remember this as the day you __**almost**__ caught the shinobi Uzu-SHIT!_" Without much ceremony Naruto's shoe lost its footing and he tumbled backwards out the window with a squawk.

Thankfully they were on the first floor.

People crowded the area to see if the weird kid with balls huge enough to prank _the_ Franken Stein face to face was alright. Yet somehow, someway, the heads that were able to squeeze themselves through the opening without being pushed through fully could find no trace of him. He vanished. Those with a view even checked above since he had displayed wall-sticking talent and an apparent ability to teleport. "I'll get him later. Take your seats so we may finish the lesson." Stein announced while wiping his face with the handkerchief he was saving to clean off his knives with. With his skin sufficiently clean, the powerful adult readjusted his glasses and reached for the scalpel Naruto replaced before he turned tail and ran.

The damn thing exploded before his fingertips could brush against the cool steel casing.

Thick smoke obscured Stein's upper body before a _third _pie rocketed into his chin, spraying bits and pieces of the sweets against the floor and walls upon impact. The real Naruto was now standing on top of the elevated desk (making sure not to step on the animal) with a hand pressed against his disoriented temple as the clouds dissipated. Low groans escaped his lips as he mentally reviewed his clone's progress and immediate demise after awkwardly hitting the ground. "_What kind of idiotic screws up a dramatic exit like that?_"

"_One that blames copies of himself as if they were separate people._"

"_Yeah well…you'd know all about being crazy, wouldn't you?_" Naruto looked down at the seated man, who by now had removed his glasses to clean yet again. His yellow eyes were watching the blond without blinking and the ninja shook his head to clear the brain fart. He reeeeeeeaally shouldn't be casually chatting with the victim of his tricks. "_I'm going to leave now._"

"_Oh I agree. Skinned or in pieces. Your choice._"

The two continued staring at each other before Naruto suddenly raised his finger, silently asking for a moment. Hopping off the desk he casually brushed off his sweatshirt, readjusted the zipper, and made sure his sneakers were on tight. He then waved towards the four students that he knew, the motion dragged out as if it was one of his final actions in life. "_Hey Tsubaki-san. It was nice meeting you guys. If anyone asks, I went out swinging like a man._" The developed teenager blinked her large violet eyes before nodding slowly. What else could she really do? Satisfied with her response Naruto sniffed before jabbing his pointer towards the dead bird and screaming like a terrified little girl watching her first horror movie. "_OH GOD IT'S STILL ALIVE!_"

Every eye turned towards the condor by the volume alone whether or not they could understand Japanese. Even Stein did so, believing the dissection just got a whole lot more interesting when the whiskered boy in front of him ran towards the door like Hell itself was after him. "Naruto-san what are you-EEP!" Tsugumi had no time to understand why she no longer standing in the door to the classroom, instead now thrown over the sturdy blond's shoulder like a simple backpack. How embarrassing! Her panties could be showing in this position!

"_I REGRET NOTHIIIIIIIING!_"

Meme and Anya were hot on his heels as he escaped, those two at least fit enough to keep up with better success than Tsugumi who didn't get as much exercise thanks to her weapon status. Had a cricket chirped in that very moment, the entire classroom's ambiance would have been perfect. Unparalleled silence…soon broken by the piercing shout of an incredibly pissed off (and self-proclaimed) godly assassin.

"THAT BASTARD! I CAN'T BELIEVE HE WENT AND DID SOMETHING SO OUTRAGEOUS IN FRONT OF ME!"

That was what set off the rest of the gathered students. Voices rose in tandem as the teenagers began speaking with each other over the foreign blond and his shenanigans. Tsubaki had to physically restrain her partner to his seat as the young boy continuously thrashed about in anger, screeching about pies and revenge. No one upstaged the almighty Black*Star and got away with it! "Black*Star, calm down!"

"Y'know, that was pretty cool. He's a dead man…but that took some guts." Soul couldn't keep the lazy grin off his face, flashing his set of pointed teeth to the world. Maka just nodded along before realizing just what happened in tandem with her scythe weapons' words. If Naruto died then she'd never be able to understand what he was and what he could do. Adding to her list of oddities was the power to walk on surfaces as if they were the ground, change places instantaneously with an object, and the green-eyed meister was unsure about that smoke cloud but it somehow involved Stein's scalpel.

Something about his soul wavelength was distantly familiar as well…

"Do you think we can find him before Professor Stein does?"

"Who knows?"

With his skin still sporting the fleeting gooey remnants of the pies, Stein cleared his throat just loud enough to be heard over the noisy din. Followed by a few more noises. Until finally he slapped his hand down on the desk with a resounding crack. He did dent the wood a bit but it got them all to finally shut up and pay attention. "Ah, good. Well then- class dismissed. I'm not much in the mood to finish our project. " His body rolled towards the door with an almost ominous posture. It didn't help that the lighting was reflecting off his glasses to completely hide his eyes. Oh right, and also the toothy grin stretching his face in a macabre way that would never be found on any sane person. He didn't even lose his balance for once when his wheels hit the door jam.

"Professor, what about the condor?" a student shouted from the back row, eyeing the diced-up body with a hint of disgust. Wasn't that a health risk or something? But Franken Stein was already out the door, the sound of his chair slowly fading away as he rolled down the hall in search of his newest experiment. With nothing left binding them to attendance it wasn't long before seats scraped against the floor and shoes scuffed as people moved to leave. Certain groups formed as friends started speaking, most of the topics once again centering on what happened that day. Maka, Soul, Tsubaki, and (tentatively) Black*Star was one such group, although mostly it was the two demon weapons being dragged out the door by their respective counterparts.

"Come on, guys! We need to search for-…oh dear, I don't actually know his name." The thin warrior in a tan sweater vest stopped in her tracks after recognizing she only knew him by the self-placed label of 'mysterious blond'. Soul stumbled, almost bowling the petite weapon technician over as he was being dragged by the sleeve behind her. The white-haired boy growled lowly at the action but couldn't do more than tease her yet again.

"Do you always chase after boys without knowing anything about them? I guess you do take after your dad in some ways." Soul almost missed the spine of Maka's heavy tome speeding towards his skull. Maka was more pissed at the fact he would _dare _say she copied her papa's more unscrupulous activities than the fact he basically made fun of her non-existent love life. Only Black*Star's firm grip on her wrist as he appeared in the nick of time stopped the girl from readjusting Soul's features with her self-righteous Maka Chop.

"At least I don't get a nose bleed every time a woman with big breasts shows some skin!" The skirt-wearing female then coughed, sounding suspiciously like the name Blair. Soul Evans feared for his blood pressure after that damn magical cat moved in to their shared apartment without either's approval. She was so hot though and kept sneaking into his room! It wasn't his fault he was a healthy male and his meister still ranked at 'flat as a board'! It was nothing new though; they fought, then the pair would make up eventually. Still, it spiked his own personal ire at how she was taking her own anger out on him.

Even if it was his comment that started off the firestorm…

"Nerd!"

"Pervert!"

"Fight later!" They wasted enough time shouting in the corridor. Releasing Maka's hand, the blue-haired assassin vaulted over the verbally dueling pair only to land in front of them with his stance wide. "Come on Tsubaki! We can't let him win!"

"O-okay!" the pretty girl agreed hesitantly, moving around her two younger companions who were currently locked in a staring contest. A thought struck her as Tsubaki moved away, prompting her to stop and speak again as her long skirt swaying about her legs. "By the way Maka-chan, his name is Uzumaki Naruto."

"Tsubaki!"

"Coming!" The two ninja-esque fighters took off at a fast pace, the blue-haired boy leading the way through those other students unlucky enough to be in his path. Due to the growing distance between them she was unable to see how Maka's eyes had grown foggy and unfocused. It was so strange that Soul actually pulled back in confusion, his tongue darting out to run over the points of one of his canines.

"Uh…Maka?" he called, annoyance at his partner now gone. The only time she was ever stock-still like this was when she was nose deep inside a book. It was pretty creepy. His hand waved in front of her face but she still didn't stir, at least not until he flicked her in the forehead rather roughly.

"Ow! What was that for, Soul?"

"You cut off there all of a sudden. You weren't responding at all."

"Well you didn't have to hit me!"

"What a drag. Stop yelling already!" Aaaaand now the frustration was back. It was like clockwork with these two. How could they act so antagonistic one minute and then forthcoming the next, such as back during the extra lesson against Sid and Stein? Soul had shown his faith and loyalty to his meister in the face of death. It was just another mystery there in Death City that would probably be more troublesome to unearth.

"Just come on already. We need to catch up." Maka huffed, spinning on her heel and dashing away. Well…at least the yelling stopped. However Soul couldn't let it go _that _easily. Not with her odd response and lack of action beforehand. It was too out of character seeing Maka act dumbstruck.

"Maka, wait! Why did you freeze?" Soul said, dragging his feet after the driven female with visible difficulty. It proved to at least warrant a look over the shoulder as the scythe wielder's forest green eyes popped into view.

"It's just…I swear I know the name Uzumaki from somewhere…ugh! Just, let's go already!" Great. Now she was even more driven than before. Sure, the albino was curious about the blond as well but at this rate he'd hear all about it later once the facts were uncovered. But if the demon weapon went home by himself he'd fear a dangerously spiking heart rate. And there was always the slightest of chances that his cohort could run into trouble, even here in the relatively passive realm of Death City. In a place that technicians and weapons called their base of operations, Kishin Eggs seemed to pop up every now and again when the temptation of innocent fresh souls ran too high.

But Black*Star and Tsubaki would be around…maybe. Sighing explosively, Soul finally forced himself into a decision as he ran after Maka. Maybe if he was lucky he'd get to see Stein and Naruto go at it instead of being an active participant? That is, if his lovely partner decided not to antagonize the lot of them in her pursuit of knowledge.

Why did women have to be so damn troublesome to understand?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You look good in that uniform, kid. Now remember; no matter how crappy your English is, that's what I want to hear from you. The more you practice the easier it'll get."

"…okay."

"Good." The tall, lean man with gelled-back black spikes and fuzz on his chin nodded approvingly, idly cleaning a glass with the rag in his hand. "Now get to it. There are three young ladies waiting to have their orders taken."

Naruto scowled at the man he learned was nicknamed 'Master', the owner of the Deathbucks Café establishment and the place where Naruto was currently hanging out. Or hiding, which was more appropriate to the situation. The shop was off one of the main streets and took in plenty of foot traffic daily. When the blond asked his newest friends for a place he could lay low at for a bit (since there was no doubt in his mind Stein would be staking out his room) he was eventually whisked away to here.

He had to promise to explain his outlandish skills at some point in the future though.

Apparently the café was one of the hotspots for DWMA students in need of extra money, a place that offered daily part-time work for those willing to get to it. Tsugumi, Anya, and Meme had all been employed here in the past and was one of the joints they stopped by regularly. They were on good terms with Master, a man who was actually rather nice despite his stern eyes and tough features. It was that rough gaze that now bore down on Naruto who huffed in resignation and slowly trudged away from the bar where he had been leaning beforehand. Now dressed in a white dress shirt, black waistcoat, tie, trousers, and shoes, the ninja was now spruced up for the part of being a waiter.

He was unaware his hiding spot would involve taking orders but eh, better than being on the run. He even thought the uniform was snazzy as hell…but the Master's perceptive smirk at seeing Naruto's awed face upon the uniform's reveal had soured him somewhat. "Why am I only one in fancy clothes?" the blond grumbled, keeping up the tough act despite knowing his employer knew damn well it was just a farce to appear unsatisfied with how established it made him feel.

"Because around this time we're not very busy. Plus no one else has signed up lately to work here. It's just you and me today. Hope you remember the crash course in training well enough." Not only that but the shinobi was getting his money at the end of the shift since him joining up hadn't gone through proper Shibusen channels. But the kids needed a favor and he owned the place, so there wasn't that much of a problem in his eyes. This Naruto fellow got to chill for a bit and make some cash on the side. Not too shabby.

"It's D-ranks again…"

Master just raised a dark eyebrow, wondering what that was supposed to mean.

"You look very nice, Naruto-san." Meme said, smiling kindly at the boy with the notepad in his hands. She and the other two female students were clustered at a small round table near the center of the restaurant as they waited for their server to make an appearance. "But why did you change your clothes? I liked the orange." When the pad of paper slipped from his fingers and hit the table, the chesty meister thought she said something wrong. When his quaking arms pulled her into a hug, the forgetful girl was more confused than ever as she began to blush at the unannounced contact-

-which then caused Tsugumi and Anya to redden as they gaped at Naruto's boldness. Sure, Meme was cute and more mature looking than the rest but they had all just met today. Especially for the blonde female, whose strict upbringing made this heated embrace pretty much equal the equivalence of porn. Boys and girls shouldn't do something so intimate unless they were a couple!

"You. You understand. My favorite of all." His grin as he pulled away was infectious, causing Meme's lips to do so as well. She had no idea what was going on but if he was happy then she figured she did something right. Grabbing at the sheet of paper the former jinchuriki clicked the top of his pen and poised the inky tip against it. "So what you all want?"

"Ice cream sundae, please."

"C-coffee with sugar…"

"…some cold water w-would be nice."

"Back soon." Nodding once Naruto turned and walked back to the bar only to drop the order form in front of the older man. He only spared it a glance before shaking his head and jabbing an elbow towards it.

"You wrote in Japanese. Can't read it, you know."

"…you heard perfectly. Sound carries. No other customers."

"Be that as it may, I don't want to mess anything up."

The whiskered-male sighed while scratching at his jaw. "Sugar coffee, cold water, sundae."

"They'll be up shortly. In the meantime we have some new customers." Master nodded in the direction of the girls before moving back into the kitchen. Lo and behold, there were three new people sitting next to the original trio at the adjoining table. From what Naruto could make out, they were most likely fellow DWMA students. Two of them wore the exact same uniform; green pleated skirt, pale-green sweater with green collar necktie, and black thigh highs. However one had short pink hair and he caught a glimpse of jade that caused his heart to suddenly ache, while the other held long dark-brown locks with sharp matching irises.

The last looked almost like a small child with her body hidden away beneath a white cloak sporting animal ears atop the drawn hood. As Naruto drew closer he was able to discern light shoulder-length hair and bored looking grey eyes. The young one was currently locked in a staring contest with Anya, who appeared as if she was trying not to say something belittling if her twitching cheeks were anything to go by. They all turned as one as the blond boy in the waiter uniform appeared, ready to do his job once again.

"Hey you're that guy from class!"

The brunette rebuked her friend at the pinkette's shout. "Don't act so surprised, Kim. You wanted to come in here the moment you noticed him from outside." The one labeled Kim blushed lightly but scowled at her friend.

"I _wanted_ to come and hang out with our younger classmates for a bit. Geez, Jackie."

Jacqueline giggled at the other female's huffy response and pouted looks before turning towards the ninja waiting at her side with a bright smile. "Hello. I'm Jacqueline O. Lantern Dupré. That stunt against Professor Stein was rather daring."

"Owed for leaving me in NOT alone. Can't speak English too well yet."

Dainty fingers brushed against the pale skin of her chin. "Ah that explains how you know Tsugumi, Meme, and Anya. I'm from the EAT classes, a demon lantern. This-" She gestured towards the pinkette who had by now crossed her arms over her modest bust for being ignored, "-is my partner Kim Diehl."

"Hiya."

"Lantern?" Naruto finally echoed as he struggled to understand what she meant. So far he had seen people transform into a scythe, halberd, variety of pointy objects, and those projectile 'gun' things. But a lamp? Jacqueline's hand melted before his eyes until it was now in the shape of a cast-iron lantern end crafted from gunmetal black material. A roaring fire blazed within, spewing out of the multiple holes dotting its sides as well as the large opening where her fingers would be. Naruto's mouth took on an admiring 'O' shape as the transformation reversed before grinning at her. "Cool. Burning."

"T-thank you." Now it was Jackie's turn to flush before the honest recognition as she dropped her brown eyes towards the clothed tabletop. Not many besides Kim thought her weapon's shape was useful in a fight. A slight bump of the green-eyed girl's shoulder against her own had the shape-shifter cough to try and recompose herself in light of the compliment. "And uh…oh! I'm so sorry! I forgot to introduce the last of our party. This is Kana Altair, another student in NOT."

"We thought she could use some fresh air for once instead of just hanging around the girl's dorm like a lump."

The small girl reached inside of her shroud and retrieved a thick deck of cards. Without even shuffling or looking Kim's way, her nimble fingers slipped the top object off the pile and showed it to Kim. It revealed a golden trumpet with heavy noise lines shooting out of the bell erratically, as if the invisible person playing the instrument was blowing as hard as they could. The words '_The Trumpeter_' were gilded across the bottom ribbon. Kim seemed to take offense at the fake tarot card and ground her teeth at the cloaked student who merely returned the rectangle back to its set and mixed them up thoroughly.

"I don't mind joining you but your comment was unnecessary." She spoke with a soft, detached voice that would have been harder to understand through a noisy atmosphere. Only the brunette's firm hand on Kim's arm kept her from reaching over with fire in her eyes and pulling Kana into a headlock. "May I have a slice of apple pie, please?" Those un-expressive silver orbs turned on Naruto and he started from being drawn into their interactions, blinking his eyes and quickly scribbling on the order pad.

"Yes. Sorry. And you ladies?"

"We'll share a plate of French fries." More scribbles were had (with whatever the hell fries were, and not knowing how they could be 'French') before Naruto stepped away, leaving the group of girls to continue gossiping. It wasn't long before Kim leaned forward towards the younger generation, one arm resting on the tabletop while the other idly played with one of her side bangs. "So how'd you three meet up with the blond on Stein's hit list anyways?"

"Naruto is a new meister, and more fluent in Japanese than English. Professor Sid placed him in our group since two of us can translate. He's getting better at speaking though and can understand pretty well…Master has had him doing so since we got here. But now that I think about it…if he can comprehend what we're saying and speak basic sentences then why go through the trouble of finding a translator?"

"Because we wanted the idiot to start using a language proper for the area." Six girls shuddered in varying degrees as that silkily-crafted voice spoke up from behind the now frozen Tsugumi, the poor girl shivering as her head slowly rotated to peek over her shoulder. A large lab coat blotted out her vision, dotted with coarse stitching. How Stein snuck up on the lot of them without _any_ of the females noticing was pretty impressive. But then again, Franken Stein was considered the strongest meister ever to graduate from Death Weapon Meister Academy and so could probably do a lot more than he usually exhibited. "My plan was to make it so he was left without help, forcing Naruto to actually use what he's been learning. Apparently Sid wasn't thinking along the same lines."

"C…could you please not stand behind me?"

"Why?" he responded quizzically, genuinely confused by the request. Too scared by his proximity to say anything else without her throat constricting, the demon halberd shook her head furiously and turned back around. The rumors about the man were too horrifying to behold. And the way he tried to skewer Naruto back there? For a gentle soul such as Tsugumi it was overwhelming…even if the most he was doing was casually standing next to her without a hint of bloodlust.

Somehow, surprisingly, the blond boy mentioned in their conversation was able to make it over to the loaded table with the original orders on top of the tray clasped firmly in his hands. The Uzumaki was able to do so without bolting like a terrified animal and dropping their drinks, something the shinobi was rather proud of. He got along fine with Stein; he could actually be someone cordial as long as the conditions were right. But pranking the teacher as was his unique custom…

How could a school teacher actually be more terrifying than a reanimated ultimate clan head, a revenge-driven psycho hell bent on rewriting the entire world, or a serpent freak who was way past the line of scientific morality? Half of Naruto was laughing at himself for acting in such a way but Stein's soul just put him on edge sometimes with how it could waver between harmless and psychotic in the blink of an eye. Primal fear…that's what it was called.

Note to self. No more pranking the guy with the bolt through his temples.

At least don't make the culprit obvious next time…

"How did you find me?" Naruto remarked as casually as he could, placing down the sundae, water, and cup of joe without looking towards the pale-haired adult. The guy's shoulders rose in an indifferent shrug before he placed his hands inside the large pockets of his jacket.

"Even someone with terrible soul perception could locate that house of a wavelength you possess. All I had to do was find your signature and lock on." Well crap. If only he had known that before. The technician was slowly swaying in his spot, putting Naruto on his guard despite the other having a benign posture.

"Well…no attacking. I working and Master get angry."

"Oh I know. I can wait."

"…" The waiter's blue eyes were wide as he sent a quick look towards Kim and Jacqueline, silently screaming for help. If they were in EAT then they had more experience than the others, plus the feminine pair had been in Stein's presence for a longer period of time being his students. When both responded with incredibly sorrowful stares Naruto robotically lifted his serving tray and walked back towards the kitchen.

"It's like a dead man walking." the pinkette whispered.

"So did he happen to find a partner today?" Stein asked jovially, still waiting behind the pigtailed halberd but with an unlit cigarette now dangling from his lips. Said person once again shook her head nervously, hunched over her brown coffee with both hands on the cup. Why wouldn't he move already?

"Naruto didn't seem very interested in doing so. He did mention to us he would just try his luck at the lottery." Anya supplied, having already drained her clear glass of the refreshing drink. She felt kinda sorry for her new friend but hey; as long as the sutured scientist wasn't breathing down her own neck she didn't mind too much the fact he was now a part of their conversations.

"Why come to Shibusen then if he's not very interested in having a weapon? It's not like there are that many free ones left anyways at this time." The chatter drifted off somewhat before five sets of eyes zoomed in on the lone feline-themed student in their midst. Kana glanced around the assembly with that same look of disinterest, seemingly more concerned about when her treat would arrive and not where the discussion was heading.

"What?"

"You're partner-less too, aren't you Kana-san?"

"I've never found a compatible match."

"So…" Jackie motioned with her thin hands towards the door behind Master's bar where a certain blond was still hiding. They could have sworn the cat ears sewn into Kana's hood twitched before the tiny weapon shrugged and once again retrieved her deck of cards. Pausing for a moment in focus, the light blonde removed the top of the pile and held it up for all to see. It was the reverse Magician, held upside-down between the crook of her first finger.

"Trickery, indecisive…the reading is uncertain. I can't seem to properly lock on to his signature for an accurate answer."

"Ooo, was that your 'love reading', Kana-san?" Faux ears flopped forward as the blond nodded at Meme's question. In turn the forgetful brunette lightly clapped her hands together with a smile. "It was just like the affinity division Jacqueline-senpai used to find her compatibility with Kim-senpai."

"Why is it you can remember **that**?" Once again the lamp found herself burning under the scrutiny and bemusement of the others. Only Kim and Stein had been the ones out of the loop, and the pinkette's amused smile totally expressed that Jacqueline would be explaining herself later. The brunette could have hugged Naruto in joy when the ninja finally returned to the group. Only the food items in his arms which were soon set down in front of their waiting recipients kept her rooted in her spot.

A few more hours passed as Naruto was forced to serve more patrons; even his tormentor ordered himself a light dinner. Those he considered his protection slowly trickled away as, while it was nice to just relax inside a café, the ladies had their own schedules to keep. Each gave their own version of an apology for leaving him with the human dissector but all the blond would do was shake his head and head them off. Pretty soon it was finally closing time and the moment Naruto was paid, a strong yet ill-looking hand descended upon his spiky locks, keeping him in place with their vice grip.

"Ah ah! You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?"

"For one second there, yes." Then Naruto was gone, vanishing in a self-induced smokescreen and leaving behind one of Master's empty cups held against Stein's palm. The Shibusen meister 'tsked' before walking over and setting the glass upon the counter for the man to re-shelf.

"He's been planning his escape for awhile."

"I figured. It's getting kind of annoying though, that he can replace himself with other objects."

"Interesting trick."

Stein remained quiet before turning towards the door. His eyes were drawn up towards the face of the crescent moon hanging in the sky, its visible eye glowing an ominous crimson. Not even the sun's odd features looked as eerie as what he was looking at now. The stitched-up researcher could swear that on the rarest of occasions where his mind was clear he could sense the faintest of surges pertaining to a soul wavelength up in the atmosphere. One that was masking itself…or recovering. Ah…what he wouldn't give to be the first person to travel up and cut open the whole moon to see what treasure was hidden inside. He figured the wavelength was just a backlash from the Great Change that shifted everything…but hey, you never know.

A man can dream.

"A pity it's unique only to people like him. Welp, take care." Master nodded in goodbye, following Stein and locking the door once the man was outside. The black-haired male watched the teacher vanish into the shadows not illuminated by the street lamps before shaking his head and turning to finish the lock down. Hopefully he didn't rough up Naruto too bad; the kid was a pretty good worker.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Black*Star, enough! Your sense of direction sucks!"

"I'm never wrong! You're just slowing us down and he's gone by the time we get there!"

It had been like this ever since class was let out early. Maka and Black*Star, rushing through town in an attempt to find Naruto for: one, shaking him down for answers and two, for upstaging someone 'important' in front of a grouping of his peers. Rather reluctantly, their weapons were still following them to at least make sure they didn't do anything wrong. But even that could only last for so long.

"This is so stupid! Look, the damn moon is out already! Screw this; I'm going home." Soul angrily kicked one of the rocks dotting the cobblestone before stomping away. It was surprising how long the Evan's child had lasted before quitting. Tsubaki was torn between her loyalty towards helping her friends and saying '_fuck_ _it' _like any sane person and following the scythe's example.

"M-Maka-chan, Black*Star; perhaps we should-"

The two childhood friends stopped their bickering for just a moment to glare at the black-haired teenager, causing her to groan and sigh as soon as their attention was once again back on each other. Tsubaki was tired, she was hungry, and her shoulders were a bit sore from lugging around her somewhat larger than average chest inside a tight combat dress. The multiple-formed demon weapon was in desperate need of a bubble bath to relieve the tension.

A small, retributive part of Tsubaki hoped Naruto (the current reason behind her predicament) had a similar crappy day as she.

When she suddenly saw him tearing down an adjacent street like the devil himself was after him, the pretty gal knew her wish had somehow been answered. Stein must have been hunting the poor blond all afternoon. Tsubaki nearly shouted out towards Naruto, which would have alerted Maka and Black*Star, but she suddenly caught herself. The ravenette was still in a vindictive mood and still a bit pissed at her technician for peeping on her at the hot springs again a few days ago. So, with a swish of her long ponytail, Tsubaki straightened her back and spun on her elevated heel.

"I'm heading back as well. Take care, you two." she added with a half-giggle. Ahhh, it felt good to just give up sometimes and forget about trying to please others despite going against her kind nature. Now all she needed was that warm water and, if her luck's desire still held out, finally get around to finishing that rather exotic romance novel she borrowed at Blair's insistence. At least with the book, it piqued her imagination enough to give her that semblance of a normal adolescence in lieu of her completely devoid love life. It seemed like not many weapons and technicians were in relationships unless it was their partner. Not all of them them could be so fortunate though...

With those thoughts spurring her on, the youth double-timed it back towards her apartment while leaving behind the still searching meister pair. If the day was going to suck, at least the solitude alone would make up for it.

…

On an unrelated note to Tsubaki's late antics; Naruto was up all night without a wink of sleep in fear that he would wake up strapped to Professor Stein's operating table.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_A/N: Hey, so. Lookee 'ere. Finally decided to get off my lazy ass and update this one. But then again, owning the entire anime collection and watching it with my friends repeatedly got me in the mood to work on Echoes again. _

_I've been in a slump lately thanks to school and work, which is why my updating has been rather erratic. I've been reading more than writing. So many stories on my watch list and there's at least one or two new emails for updates every time I wake up in the morning._

_A bit of advice though; please stop PMing me and telling me to update a story. Especially since a bunch of them are not requests but orders. My stories are not abandoned. The only one I'm thinking of doing that to is Roar of the Wilds, and that's because the thing is crap. It's just a Naruto story where goes to the school but he's not a ninja. Way too many of those. Not sure what I was thinking when I made him a lion. If you want it or think you can do better, then go ahead. _

_My other stories though; Power of the Planet is going to be rewritten at some point since it could be a lot better, and perhaps Descendant of the Devil too, and Jump City Sage will continue on like normal. Ignis and Fulgoris will continue normally because Kingdom Hearts is the shit, and I want to see how things are going in Bleach before I do anymore with Expelled From Glory. Emergence, Shadows, Two Realms, Ninjas, and maybe Echoes are the ones I'll be focusing the most on for now._

_So please…just keep the faith going that this college kid is getting his stuff done while enrolled in a crazy interviewing class that's just…ugh._


End file.
